Uvweo, human male Undead Hunter starts his SoA travails. Escaping from the chateau certainly looks like hard work and a toil of sorts.
After grabbing a suitably slicey sword (katana) the plucky paladin quickly frees Imoen, Jaheira and Minsc to make their own way out. They look a little worried about this but a use of Detect Evil assures them all is fine.
Around a corner Uvweo bumps into a genie and a short conversation sees an angry ogre mage appear. He has a bastard sword though so Uvweo kills him and grabs it. The day is as good as won.
He races through several more encounters until finally reaching a cambion. That looks like a magical bastard sword so he buffs before releasing it and is soon brandishing the sword - if only he could identify it to revel in it's power (+1).
It is but the work of several rests to escape the area, only to find there is another level of the dungeon ahead. Yoshimo is told to make his own way out but before he leaves he talks of mephit portals in the next room. Uvweo is well aware of this and uses his longbow to plink at the closest pair of portals while two mephits try and fail to take advantage of his ranged melee handicap.
With those portals closed, Uvweo shoots the third and then starts on the fourth. A radiant mephit closes in and uses it's special ability - but Uvweo is wise to this and runs away from it and towards the portal. He shuts it down before the mephit can try a second colour spray.
A trio of dryads reveal the dungeon is run by Irenicus and his bedroom is that way. Uvweo heads over and loots all he can carry (including a spike in the unmentionables which is why he doesn't want to hear about a stick up his paladinly posterior).
He finds a potion of firebreath and equips it in case he meets any fleeing vampires but the only one encountered takes a minor hit then a large hit to die without need for fire.
Here's what he carried out of the dungeon. Stick hidden, obviously.
After selling various items Uvweo ventures into the circus tent and is given a master class in survival by Quayle. Will he remember the basics - only time will tell.
Gaelan Bayle and Renal Bloodscalp waste no time finding jobs for Uvweo to do, but first the Undead Hunter decides his magical armour needs replacing and uses Detect Evil to identify a suitable donor.
That encounter showed Uvweo he shouldn't have sold his offhand weapon so maybe he should pick up a more suitable replacement - even if it has been drained when first recovered. A rest will fix that.
Angmar focused amidst the melee, tapping into his divine spark, and unleashed Divine Wrath on his half-brother. Sarevok, who was already gravely wounded, could not take unleashed power of the burst. Seeing him fall, Sarevok’s allies, Tazok and Angelo, quickly melted away, making their escape out the back of the Temple.
SAREVOK FALLS
Getting to this point required destruction of two of Sarevok's most trusted Assassin's, Sythe and Krysten in the cities under-cellars and defeating his heartbroken former paramour, Tamoko who begged Angmar to be merciful with Sarevok.
SLAYING SYTHE
KILLING KRYSTEN
BACKSTAB!
Angmar surveyed the scene. He would raise Vienxay who fell just moments before Sarevok but had played an instrumental role with her Minor Sequencer - Magic Missile/Melf’s Acid Arrow combination and a timely Chromatic Orb. Baeloth too punished Sarevok with Magic Missile upon Magic Missile. Vynd, with his Boots of Speed, kept Sarevok’s attention, darting in and out with his dual-wielding and the threat of that Short Sword +3 (Shadow Blade), which allowed Dorn and Shar-Teel to work on him unmolested except for the annoyance of Tazok.
Angmar did not yet know what he would do or where he would go. Baeloth would be gone, he had said so moments before this tussle began. He did not know about the others. Dorn seemed to want to be Angmar’s ‘Right Hand’ ever since he found out about his Bhaal parentage. He liked Vynd and would not mind keeping him around, Vienxay too. Shar-Teel he could take or leave. He could buy some land, build a keep of his own and hire troops to man it – he was wealthy enough – but he just did not find that appealing. Not now, anyway. He would leave the Sword Coast, probably head south. Maybe Athkatla.
PARTY INFORMATION
ORDER OF MARCH:
Dorn (Point)
Shar-teel (Shock)
Vynd (stealth, recon, assassinations)
Vienxay (arcane support, rogue support)
Angmar
Baeloth (arcane Support)
NEXT STEPS: South, maybe Athkatla (Shadows of Amn)
PARTY MAKEUP: (Reputation: 6 – Disliked)
Angmar: CE Anti-Paladin (Black Guard of Talos)/8(HP 83); Armor: Plate Mail +3 (Practical Defense), Amulet of Spell Warding, Boots of Avoidance (Senses of the Cat), Crystal Helm, Gauntlet of Dexterity, Golden Girdle (Girdle of Slashing +3), Ring of Fire Shielding (Charvirak’s Glow); Weapons: Spear +3 (Dragon Scepter), Flail +1** (Two-Handed Weapon Style**); Items: Ring of Human Influence; Special Abilities: Absorb Health, Aura of Despair, Cause Affliction (2), Divine Wrath (2), Drain Life (2), Lightning Bolt, Poison Weapon, Shocking Grasp; Spells: None; Skills; None; High-Level Abilities: None
Dorn: NE Paladin (Black Guard of Ur-Gothoz/8 (HP 56); Armor: Black Swan Armor +2, Cloak of Protection +2, Golden Girdle (Girdle of Slashing +3); Weapons: Two-Handed Sword +3 (World’s Edge), **, Pole Axe +2 (Kilther)** (Two-Handed Weapon Style**, Axe**), Gauntlet of Weapons Expertise; Items: Boots of Valor (AC +4 vs Blunt), Ring of Fire Resistance (Batalista’s Passport); Special Abilities: Absorb Health, Aura of Despair, Poison Weapon (2); Spells: None; Skills; None; High-Level Abilities: None
Shar-teel: CE Fighter (Berserker)/7 (HP 60); Armor: Crystal Plate Mail +2, Ring of Protection +1 (Ring of the Princes), Kiel’s Helmet, Boots of Grounding (Tolos’s Gift), Elves Bane (Girdle of Piercing +3); Weapons: Long Sword +1/+2 vs Regenerators/+3 vs cold/+4 vs undead (Flame Tongue +1); ***, Long Sword +1/+3 vs undead (Harrower)***, Gauntlets of Weapons Expertise (Long Sword***, Dagger*, Two-Weapon Style**); Items: Ring of Free Action; Special Abilities: Berserkers Rage; Spells: None; Skills: None; High-Level Abilities: None
Vynd: NE Thief (Drow Assassin)/10 (HP 61 ); Armor: Improved Shadow Armor, Cloak of Protection +1, Gauntlets of Dexterity; Weapons: Short Sword +3 (Shadow Blade)*, Long Sword +1* , Darts of Stunning* (Dart*, Long Sword*, Short Sword*, Two-Weapon Style*); Items: Boots of Speed (Paws of the Cheetah); Special Abilities: Poison Weapon (2), Set Snare (2); Spells: None; Skills; OL 35, FT 25 PP 45, MS 105, HS 90, DI 10, ST 75, BS x 5; High-Level Abilities: None
Baeloth: CE Sorcerer/9 (HP 46); Armor: Robe of the Grand Wizard, Bracers of Defense AC6, Amulet of Protection +1, Cloak of Displacement, Crown of the Alarphon; Weapons: Quarter Staff +3 (Staff of Striking +3), Darts of Wounding*; Items: Ring (Barrityl’s Burden); Special Abilities: None; Spells: Greater Malison (4), Melf’s Meteors (6), Spell Thrust (6), Melf’s Acid Arrow (6), Magic Missile (6), Icelance (6), Detect Invisibility (6), Globe of Darkness (6), Horror (6), Blindness (6), Chromatic Orb (6), Expeditious Retreat (6), Spook (6), Ice Storm (4); Skills; None; High-Level Abilities: None
Vienxay: NE Mage/Thief (Shadowmage)//8/8 (HP 29); Armor: Robe of the Evil Arch-Magi, Cloak of Protection +1; Weapons: Dagger +4* (D’Raavhen’s Fang), Darts of Wounding*; Items: Courier’s Boots, Ring of Invisibility (Sandthief’s Ring), Mystic Ring, Vienxay’s Silk Gloves; Special Abilities: Shadowjump, Set Snare (2); Spells: Minor Sequencer, Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere, Stoneskin, Melf’s Minute Meteors, Haste, Lightning Bolt, Slow, Blur, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Mirror Image, Web, Magic Missile, Blindness, Charm Person, Chromatic Orb; Skills: OL 80, FT 70, PP 45, MS 85, HS 90, DI 15, ST --, BS x 2; High-Level Abilities: None
MOD USED: Convenient Enhanced Edition NPCs v4.0, Ajantis BG1 v15, NPC Aura BG1, BG1 NPC Project v24-8, BG1 Romantic Encounters V4, BGEE NPC Tweaks, BG Quests and Encounters v22, Brage’s Redemption v4, Tweaks Anthology Beta 4, Deities of Faerun v1.9.7.6.1, Distinguishable Clubs, Divine Remix v8 Beta, NPC Drake, Dark Side of the Sword Coast v102, NPC Emily BG1, NPC Finch v4.0 Beta 7, NPC Gavin V14, NPC Glam Pack v3, I Hate Undead Kitpack v3.8
It's an unusual start to our session as we scratch our heads. What were we doing? Indy may have struggled to make any coherence of our day as we lurched from one encounter to another without any clear plan emerging.
At an early point we encounter a vampire called Hareishan and set her straight.
Then we face a good old bandit ambush. Rumbal feels right at home as a skulltrap explodes next to him.
As it is night time we return a teddy bear to the spirit of Wellyn before meeting Mook at the docks. Indy has the Amulet of Power so Rumbal starts behind him and we quickly convince Lassal that he should retire for the evening.
Reporting the death of Mook is enough for Aran Linvail to want us to deal with a pair of deserters and their rival guild contact. Indy begrudgingly acquiesces saying that this is a trivial matter for us - and promptly spices it up by casting a web which firstly catches Rumbal and then Indy with Gravy Gracen taking a free hit or two at us as a result.
We rest to heal, this reminding Rumbal that we ought to look for a better way of doing so. The purchase of four protection from undead scrolls seems a little excessive but we are thinking there may be a multiplayer glitch ahead so we use an oil of speed each as well.
Our first lich is in the Temple district and is killed quickly. After a brief real-life break we head over to the City Gates and relieve a second lich of several wands and a ring before knocking a nearby container to retrieve a long sword. The third lich is in the Bridge district and that is a straightforward kill.
Neither of us have left the game screen and not perused our inventory so we check in with Kangaxx in the hope of him not seeing through our ruse.
He's not having it though, his buffs firing - so Indy uses a second scroll and Kangaxx once more ignores our passage - or more precisely, his passage. Indy has mentioned Kangaxx will be hard to put down with Usuno's Blade +4 so we risk the inventory and identify Daystar for use. Kangaxx remains unaware of us so a round or two later his fate is sealed.
With Kangaxx defeated we open our inventories and identify everything else.
Rumbal now works out that Indy could do with a bit of headgear and the obvious place is underneath the graveyard. It is here that Indy discovers he can Sunfire without breaking invisibility. For now we are unsure whether that is a multiplayer bug or a wider oversight (however we can rely on @Grond0 to mercilessly exploit this in single player should it occur there).
Our way into the vampire nest is harder than we expect and evidence of why Aran Linvail subcontracted it out to the first idiots who turned up. Rumbal is drained back to level 6 before we defeat the first vampire so we head to a temple for restorative services. On our way out we activate a golem but leave before it can move towards us.
Freshly rejuvenated we return and Indy fronts up the vampires, relying on the Amulet of Power plus Stoneskin. This works nicely until a Greater Ghoul develops a taste for flesh as Indy inadvisably clicks on the quickloot bar instead of the ground and fails to move as hoped, leading Rumbal to try Gaxx Improved Haste with arrows +1 for the first time.
Indy hands his amulet to Rumbal so he can lead the assault on a heavily-occupied room downstairs. A bit of buffeting in the corridor (for it is not impatience on Indy's part nor dull-wittedness on Rumbal's) sees Indy in front briefly and by the time he gets Invisibility cast he is badly level-drained. Rumbal prepares for another temple trip but Indy has already purchased a restoration scroll and uses that.
Lassal puts up a heck of a fight, going down in less than a round (get him on a pay per view channel).
Bodhi manages even better than Lassal, going without a fight. We are a bit perplexed, wondering if this is because Indy cast Improved Invisibility on Rumbal or if Rumbal managed to talk-click on Bodhi before she was hostile. Either way, it's a new one on us.
On our way out of the graveyard we complete the jobs there, finding an orphan child a new home and unearthing a buried kidnap victim among other matters.
In one tomb Rumbal melees a pair of Shadow Fiends, having previously unequipped the arbane shortsword. (in my mind I assumed I was at risk of being held but hoping I'd mis-remembered and they level-drain and wondering if Grond0 was sighing at my recklessness and fully aware of my usual which of shadow fiend and wraith level drain and the other one holds). Rumbal gets away with it, today.
In another tomb Indy draws out Horror from the Crypt King then Rumbal arrives so we can defeat him.
This is how you deal with kidnappers by the way.
With our consciences clear we become the kidnappers and our reputation goes to 10 - a healthyish margin for a Ranger no doubt.
After finishing with the Graveyard we pick up an illithium alloy for Sir Sarles and take great pleasure in having him leave town unsatisfied.
Completing our good deed for the Temple of Helm has them admiring the smudged alloy sculpture and they want us to help out at the Lathander temple too. So after dark we make our way to meet a contact, only for another vampire ambush - she flees pre-combat and her two thieves suffer greatly.
Even though the hour is suitable there is no sign of Travin. We are used to his truculence though and decide to rest three times in the street. Sure enough he appears, but so does Sansuki with more vampires in pursuit. Rumbal elects to try a Daystar Sunray and then we mop up the remaining vampire before speaking to Travin.
Borinall refuses to return the Lathander Dawn Ring, and pays with his life. As Rumbal leaves the house he observes Indy slyly removing a war hammer from the table. Rumbal had in fact considered it himself as we both heard a non-existent echo saying we should take it. Don't forget the hammer. Don't forget it. OK then.
Rumbal asks what to do next as the temple quests are done but Indy is non-committal. Rumbal is running dry of ideas but goes to the Bridge District to pick up the real illithium. As we arrive he is dismayed to see Indy collecting a reward from Lt Aegisfield. A brief discussion sees Rumbal think we have not visited the Rune Assassins and Indy think we have.
In the meantime we pick up the illithium. Rumbal is proud of himself, thinking Indy looks susceptible to acid-blob damage. He can see Indy limbering up to take his chance so grabs the trap first and is rewarded by what looks like a maximum damage, that would certainly have killed Indy.
Indy thinks otherwise, having fancied his chances with a mirror-image. Now we'll never know.
Back to the Rune Assassins and have we / haven't we. We haven't.
Rumbal doesn't check the container for Aegisfields body, and suspects Indy does not either.
(I've switched machines now but have a screenshot of traps in the middle level going off and Biff the Understudy as the tanner perishing in Cloudkill)
We have buffed though and as Rumbal defeats the pair of ghasts Indy takes on the first Rune Assassin. Rumbal moves towards the second but after a few seconds that Assassin is blinded by Indy so Rumbal breaks off and helps kill the first. As we defeat the second their bone golem reinforcement arrives but it is easy prey on it's own.
We step outside and Rumbal says he's had enough for the day (and a brief conversation about brain-fade suggests it is a level 0 cantrip).
Wyrme took a deep breath, having once more defeated Sarevok (and Semaj, and Tazok). She'd made sure the ring of Koveras and her golden pantaloons were in her inventory beforehand so is hoping to meet up with them in Amn.
---
Uvweo on the other hand had been making good progress. He had done quite a few quests in the city followed by several in Trademeet and sufficient in Watchers Keep. This had been enough to obtain a Ring of Protection +2, the Ring of Gaxx, Daystar +2, Kondar +1 bastard sword, Foebane +3 bastard sword, the Shield of Harmony, the Belt of Inertial Barrier, Paladins Bracers, Improved Mace of Disruption and the Cloak of the Sewers. In other words he was becoming a bit of a problem to most enemies by level 15.
There was a minor blip against (yes him) Rayic Gethras who had used magic to kill the summoned efreeti and disintegrated Kitthix. Uvweo used a Gaxx Improved Haste to break for the stairs and after a few up and downs he finally managed to stop Rayic following him. Rayic didn't bother resting when Uvweo did and a new instance of the Efreeti was too hot for him to handle.
Uvweo continued to make good progress, and decided to return to Watchers Keep in search of the Purifier Bastard sword. The four remaining statues on the entry level did a good job on him but he kept his cool and used a small door to pick on three of them while their fourth golem was unable to help out.
On to the second level of Watchers Keep where Uvweo heads North after speaking to the Chromatic Demon. The desert trolls were a problem initially as Uvweo had no way to kill them. He summoned the efreeti which used an acid arrow on one troll but then he wildly sped to search a bookcase for something better.
It looked like the trolls had blocked Uvweo into a corner but there was one dust mephit and after killing that he thought he was free. No such luck and he was blocked in. This wasn't going to be a good way to face stalemate or defeat at the hands of unkillable enemies.
Then a Rukh in the midst of the trolls casts Death Fog and everybody bar Uvweo takes acid damage. Uvweo uses a Gaxx haste to drop as many trolls as he can so the acidic fog damage can kill them. It works and Uvweo memorises protection from electricity.
After speaking to an imp he twists a fan wheel and faces two lesser air elementals plus two greater air elementals and a Guardian of Air. They should be easy but after falling unconscious he takes a lot of damage and fortunately stands up while still alive so decides to fight them outside their room.
Once they are defeated he returns to their room, twists the wheel fan further and opens the next door. A group of kuo-toa are easy prey although he notes their strange (paralyzation?) crossbow bolts as he picks them up.
On to the green acid room. Uvweo is a bit wary of the snake within, thinking about how to avoid it's stun. He decides to risk it, and is stunned.
A round or so later he recovers. That wasn't so bad, so he risks it again. This time he is repeatedly stunned and fails to survive.
All in all, a miserable attempt at the second level of Watchers Keep.
How to avoid that no-save stun?
- Ranged attacks. If the snake can't hit you, you don't get stunned.
- Chaotic Commands. Not an option for a solo non-priest.
- Sword of Arvoreen (Mazzy's sword). Restricted to halflings only, so not an option for a paladin.
- Turn into a troll or mustard jelly.
Looks like you should have used the Cloak of the Sewers.
In jelly form, you're immune to the snake's damage, but the snake is highly resistant to your damage (70% to crushing, immune to poison); you might need additional buffs to kill it before your transformation runs out.
In troll form, you deal plenty of damage (3 base APR, 1d10+strength piercing damage, enemy resistance 20%) but also risk taking some damage from the snake's attacks.
How to avoid that no-save stun?
- Ranged attacks. If the snake can't hit you, you don't get stunned.
- Chaotic Commands. Not an option for a solo non-priest.
- Sword of Arvoreen (Mazzy's sword). Restricted to halflings only, so not an option for a paladin.
- Turn into a troll or mustard jelly.
Interesting. I did experiment before quitting, and concluded ranged attacks would be OK so long as untargeting and retargeting was done as the snake retreated and returned. I also tried the mustard form and saw that was good at defence but was unable to kill the snake before reverting back to human form. I didn't try the troll form, but from what you say it sounds like a good option.
Greenstone Amulet (Chapter 5) also protects from Stun for 1 turn, and Cloak of Atonement (Chapter 2) has 20% chance of casting Chaotic Commands for 15 turns. There's also two Chaotic Command scrolls in Neera guestline at ToB.
Wyrme sits in the cell considering her opening gambit of BGII:EE and comes up with a master plan. Why doesn't she play it safe and not take any risks. She's still trying to get this through her thick skull when Imoen turns up and releases her. Wyrme insists that Imoen leaves, and the same is suggested to Jaheira and Minsc. They'll be fine.
Wyrme grabs her golden pantaloons and equips herself from a nearby table and chest. The two dungeon levels throw up few scares, although the sewer golem got itself stuck on a door above the otyugh (meaning Wyrme could not rest or save until leaving the area and returning which reset the golem).
Careful positioning allowed the first two portals to be shut down without their mephit guardians attacking, and the later two fell to snares. After escaping the dungeon Wyrme headed into a circus tent and dealt with the illusions inside.
A brief journal check of events leading up to meeting Gaelan Bayle:
Followed by a short list of events afterward. By this time Wyrme has found the money to pay Gaelan Bayle and paid for a magic (snare) licence. The opening area of Watchers Keep has been completed, and she has decided to store spare items there instead of outside the Adventurers Mart:
With these done it is time to move on to more serious matters, details of which follow:
Suna Seni and her ambushers didn't survive a double-snare counterstrike.
A Rakshasa in the Temple district sewers failed to wait for a backstab and killed itself on a sequence of snares. A sea troll and otyugh each took a single backstab with Wyrme using an arrow of fire on the troll.
Renfeld was returned to the Harper Hold, leading to further tasks ending with Xzar being assassinated.
Mae'Var overstepped his mark once more and his series of little quests gave Wyrme plenty of time to lay down snares across two floors of the building and ensure an easy victory.
Wyrme decided to go for the Ring of Gaxx relatively early, purchasing a scroll of protection from undead and consuming two oils of speed.
With the scroll and second potion still active Wyrme cleared out the surface level of the graveyard.
Sir Sarles was fobbed off with an illithium alloy and left town. The real illithium is safely stored in Watchers Keep if you fancy trying to get it for yourself. As for Neb, well he took a backstab and then ran into a couple of plan-ahead snares.
Mook was murdered before Wyrme could do anything, but a pair of deserters and their guild contact were found guilty by snare.
Borinall failed to hang on to the Lathander Dawn Ring, and Wyrme sold his fabled tabled war hammer +1 on the way back.
The Fallen Paladins have been sorted out, although while Anarg fought and lost to Wyrme his companions decided to gang up on Reynaud de Chatillon even though he had not turned on them. Wyrme used corners of buildings to backstab them one at a time.
The Copper Coronet gladiators and the nearby Slaver Ship have been dealt with. Wyrme returned to the Temple sewers and outfought Tarnor the Hatchetman and his allies. Then she had to deal with an imp that she'd talked to the freshly-deceased Mekrath about.
Wyrme had previously worked out options on entering the Planar Prison, and had put them on hold a couple of times (see opening comment about caution). Eventually though she forgot about that and ran to the right after entering invisible and with Arbane Haste active.
The trio of thralls were easily dealt with, and Wyrme just waited out two True Sight incantations before returning to Aawil and party. A safe entry.
Now she realised getting in was the easy part. A bit of to and fro saw her dealing with the next group of yuan-to before getting to grips with them.
Slow and careful is the order of the day and Wyrme is feeling confident until her alarm goes. Oh no, the guild contact - better not hang about and that complicates matters.
The wyvern takes a hit and a snare. Try not to use too many snares here. Wyrme is not panicking. NOT PANICKING.
The clock is ticking so she gulps two potions of Magic Shielding (thanks to @Corey_Russell for mentioning on Saturday that Roger the fence has three) and an oil of speed with a potion of power too. Then Draw Upon Holy Might and Gaxx haste to attack the Master of Thralls. This works well, and Wyrme thinks about how to finish the area with the potions still active.
She identifies a dropped staff of air and summons an elemental, adding the berserk warrior and Kitthix while keeping ranged attacks up on the Warden.
After Kitthix and the berserk warrior die the elemental is still going and we have retreated to the right. The Warden has sent in a decoy Warden so Wyrme backstabs him until gone and then hones in on the real Warden. She has no time to do anything though as a group of Yuan-Ti mages all skulltrap.
Ouch.
Ouch.
That must have hurt thought Wyrme as the Warden collapses, while two Magic Shielding potions protect her. She remains in place as the Yuan-Ti either side continue to skulltrap, cast Lightning and Magic Missiles. She finishes off a Skeleton Warrior then the potions expire but by this time she is happy to melee the Yuan-Ti without any danger.
After setting Haer'Dalis and his troupe free Wyrme makes it home in time to pay her guild fee.
Rumbal and Indy face their usual dilemma of what were we doing. Our starting location gives a minor clue and we decide we must have handed Neb's remains (his head basically) in.
(& looking back I'm not sure how we started outside the Government building when the last writeup suggests being outside the Bridge district tanners. It's a mystery)
Rumbal decides to visit Trademeet but we are ambushed and Indy manages to avoid a lightning bolt that bounces off the countryside and takes out their mage caster.
Our arrival in Trademeet coincides with animals attacking so we fend them off and head towards a tent. Rumbal is eyeing up a djinn outside, causing Indy to ask what the plan against their inevitable flesh to stone spells would be. Rumbal has deposited Kitthix inside and suggests we use 'speed' to nullify the one outside. Indy OK's the plan as a crazy one and off we go. The djinn manages to stoneskin but Usuno's Blade +4 and Minute Meteors are enough for us to survive.
The pair of djinn inside are killed off with Kitthix becoming petrified, and then we are shopping. Rumbal tries first but the merchant doesn't like the look of him but before it gets mutual Indy enters the store.
Rumbal takes the opportunity to visit the druid grove and Indy learns new stuff in a troll mound. We pretend it's a level but the truth is that Rumbal ran round badly wounded at one point until Indy finished off a couple of nasty trolls.
Indy webs a couple of spore colonies, leading Rumbal to wonder if Indy checked Rumbal was OK to be running around in web or a bit of a chance-taker.
Anyway, Rumbal was not held and survived. As predicted last session Indy practices his invisible sunfire combo out a few times - here he is playing with druids.
Once we feed Cernd the shapeshifter with a suitable snack (Faldorn) we head back to Trademeet and collect our reward. Then we finish off Rejiek Hidesman and Darsidian Moor before handing in an inter-family argument secreted in a tomb to the local mayor.
We hardly pause for breath before moving on to Umar Hills and some temple ruins. Indy wants to buy swords and booze for the local kids but Rumbal is aware of his ranger status and says no.
In the ruins we find plenty of undead to antagonise.
The problem with that is they can antagonise right back. At this point Indy screamed out for a potion of power to stay alive - but for various reasons (we didn't have one) Rumbal instead gave him the Ring of Gaxx and Cloak of the Sewers for Troll form. Indy ran around from the greater mummy as Rumbal chased after the greater mummy. After only four or five rounds the poison stopped before Indy expired and Rumbal landed a destructive blow on the mummy.
Only a little further on and against the same group of enemies Rumbal scowled as he became webbed - what was Indy thinking. A moment later realisation dawned that the web had been active almost a minute and Rumbal had blundered into it. He survived to run away again as the web ran out.
Against Thaxll'ssillyia Rumbal has used Ilbratha Mirror Image and was doing a better than expected job of remaining in melee. Something had to give eventually, and that something was all his healing potions being in a container as he had three summons in his quick slots. With about 40hp remaining he ran, only for a round or so though as Indy gloated gleefully that he had Feebleminded the dragon.
The Shade Lord took a dislike to our Improved Mace and the area was ours.
We hung around Umar for a while but there was no sign of impending Ranger stronghold quests.
(we may have now taken too long as we got sidetracked a bit further on)
We headed back into town to store unwanted gear and spotted a couple of loiterers outside the circus. Maybe we should do that - and how easy it was with level 13 characters and an Improved Mace of Disruption.
Further de-cluttering of backpacks led to posting Valygar through his family letterbox - and then Indy said let's go inside.
Reminder: The one where you don't do Multiplayer like that
So we go inside and create some havoc, before the halflings add in some carnage. Indy got caught in a chaos area-effect cast at one of our summons, and a True Sight removed his invisibility.
This naturally led to him taking a few spells and although the enemies were defeated within a couple of rounds Indy was low on hit points, confused and subjected to one or more Melf's Acid Arrows.
Not to worry, Rumbal darted in and cast Cure Light Wounds. He decided to dart out, and dart back to cast a second - meaning he would minimise risk of being hit and disrupted by Indy.
Rumbal came back too late though and Indy was dead. He was duly reminded how unlikely it was that Indy would manage to hit Rumbal...
@grond0 was silent at this point while I was thinking we don't have the Rod of Resurrection and a rapid check of the scroll case confirmed we had no Raise Dead scrolls either.
So in less than the time it took us to say "Hey the upgraded Paladins Blessed Bracers can cast Resurrection" (we said it but no it took a lot lot longer than saying that and no mention of us not being able to use those bracers or even get them upgraded ho hum) Rumbal
- Dumps a load of equipment on the table near the Knights of Solemnia
- Soloed the golems (they hit hard and he had to run and rest once)
- Killed the Knights of Solmenia after they object to being in efreeti fireball range with a golem
- Faced down a Finger of Death trap (used our only potion of invulnerability thinking that's unfortunate would have been handy to have that when facing a demon)
- Stood by the door while summons were fodder to Lavok, then emerged to kill him
- Went outside to find a demon heart. Let's expand this one:
Rumbal has no shorty saving throws, and the demons outside have nasty abilities like paralyze. @Grond0 enquires about potion buffs and I give him the bad news. We don't really formulate a plan, I just summon the berserk warrior and inch him forward with Rumbal behind. Then summon Kitthix and the efreeti as the warrior engages, and shoot +1 arrows at the demon.
Various mephits are attacking our summons but Rumbal focuses on the demon. He scoops in his quiver and takes out 20 unidentified acid arrows to replace the quiver +1 arrows. Then he adds Gaxx haste.
He has to retreat a couple of times and the mephits are all around him. Our summons are either dead or the wrong side of the enemy.
The demon dies. Rumbal quick-loots it's heart and runs back inside to the disgust of the mephits.
- Bravely sent his minions to fight Tolgerias
- Ran away when his minions died
- Rested and sent his minions in again
- Heroically HEROICALLY I SAY shot an arrow at Tolgerias
- Watches as the berserk warrior killed Tolgerias before the arrow arrived
- Sneaks through the fire chamber and up to the engine room
- Feeds the heart into the engine and sneaks back to Lavok
- Goes and gets Indy raised, and return to the table to pick up his gear
That was a long time (30 minutes maybe, could be longer) of one of us watching the other while dead, something we try to avoid. Clearly we need to go pick up a rod, will we remember next time. No you say?
At the Underground River I used a dart to stun the cyclops and was able to finish that off before too many attackers could arrive - allowing me to go invisible and run underground. There I placed the Bwoosh before mis-clicking on the conversation with Turin - meaning I had to fight there rather than convincing him to let me inside. I poisoned the food and water before showing myself to Hephernaan to reopen the lift and run away.
Back at the Camp the invaders were mainly dealt with using exploding arrows and I moved on to the Castle. A one-to-one fight there was decided almost instantly by a single stunning dart and I was able to enter the Castle. After following Caelar through the portal I just ran through the first area before using exploding arrows to clear out enemies in the second area. Thrix provided me with a sword upgrade.
I'd got another level there so took that before buffing to go up in the Hellevator - summons helped make short work of the enemies there.
I recruited Caelar and started the fight, but almost immediately hit a problem. Normally I've used alternative buffing for the lift and then taken a magic shielding potion on arrival. This time I'd used that potion at the bottom of the lift and had mistakenly thought it still had time to run. As a result I was sent running in fear. My rules for Caelar allow her to be recruited, as I think it makes sense she should fight Belhifet (that's after all why she followed Hephernaan into hell). If you have a full party then Caelar will fight him independently, but otherwise she joins the party. I therefore allow the joining, but don't give her any orders to duplicate the effect of her fighting independently. That meant she was an easy victim for Belhifet while I was scared and unable to use restoration scrolls on her.
If I'd been prepared it wouldn't have been difficult to fight Belhifet - but I wasn't. I didn't have full plate armor, the golden girdle or the +2 amulet, which made me far more vulnerable in a stand-up fight and was also lacking the violet potion which would have greatly improved my attacks. The red ioun stone would also have been nice to have to improve my chances in a hit and run battle.
Even without the initiative bonus from the ioun stone though, I could still get plenty of unopposed attacks in on Belhifet and found it relatively easy to wear him down enough for him to resort to improved invisibility. That meant though that I needed a 19 to hit him and I struggled for a while to make any real progress against his regeneration. However, I did then hit a lucky streak with several criticals in fairly quick succession to prompt him to start summoning allies. That allowed me to switch to exploding arrows - even though those can't hurt Belhifet directly, the blast effect still damages him if the arrows are targeted on something that can be hit.
Things were progressing nicely with big B under 150 HPs. My target was to get him down to 100 when I planned to switch to melee relying on the half dozen stoneskin scrolls I had, along with blue fire shield to get him to kill himself while I used invisibility potions to avoid his summons attacking (I also had the bard bagpipes that ignored magic resistance and could do a bit of damage to help out if necessary). I hit another snag though when a Hamatula got close enough for its barbed defense to activate from an explosion - and that entangled me.
I tried using a scroll of PfM to dispel that, but the scroll just dispelled all my buffs and not the entangle (which, like fear, is presumably classed as a non-magical effect).
That would have probably been the end there if Belhifet had not chosen to teleport away and give me the chance to renew stoneskins and use invisibilty - with the entangle effect dissipating just a Belhifet arrived back.
The use of exploding arrows hit another snag at this point, as Belhifet summoned 3 cornugons in a row. They couldn't be hit by my arrows, so things were not looking good as Belhifet seemed to be regenerating faster that I was damaging him and my options were reducing. It therefore probably just put me out of my misery when another magic shielding potion ran out and I ran in terror once more. While the chance of Belhifet on his own hitting a hasted character running around is pretty small, 3 cornugons teleporting around as well hugely increase the chance of trouble - and that duly came ...
We make our way out of the Planar Sphere and head to the Copper Coronet for a rest. Lehtinan is still present so our first task after resting is to release Hendak. At one point Indy is trying to hit a black bear with either his sling bullets or Minute Meteors - until Rumbal suggests using his head.
Indy is happy with this result but Rumbal suggests he tries threading another skulltrap through two cell partitions. This is done twice at the minotaur's expense.
A Sunfire is used to end the combat but the Beastmaster has already fallen.
We clear the way for Hendak who duly kills Lehtinan. Then we go through the sewers towards a slaver building. We establish ourselves there at captain Haegan's expense then as Rumbal is organising his inventory he hears Indy exclaim that look mirror images work fine against acid blob traps. This Dragon Disciple will be the death of himself one day.
With the remaining slavers despatched via skulltrap and web we head back to Umar Hills and find the Ranger Stronghold quests have activated. Lord Igen Tombelthen is convinced to stop destroying the forest around the temple ruins and we report back to our questgiver (Mairyn?).
Then we set off for the De Arnise Keep and set about the grim work of destroying trolls and yuan-ti. Indy demonstrates the proper way to deal with the yuan-ti mage spell turning, bouncing four Minute Meteors off it and onto himself before applying further meteors directly onto the yuan-ti.
A group of golems are bashed apart, with Rumbal taking significant damage. Against the iron golem Indy studiously lowers it's magic resistance and having done a lot of prep work he casts Feeblemind just as Rumbal kills it. Rumbal is quite observant at this point, noting Indy grumbling away.
As we move on Rumbal asks why we have to kill four dogs to make a stew when there are human bodies aplenty. Are umber hulks really that discerning and should we not reduce reuse recycle?
Indy is perhaps considering this too much and after dropping off the food he fails to retreat quite far enough and is targeted with confusion. Rumbal steps in and kills the attacking umber hulk then stands next to Indy until he recovers his demeanor and Death spells them.
Tor'Gal is lured to his death, and then we return for the final pair of trolls - Indy using them as a further test of his recently learnt Death spell.
After collecting whatever reward is due Rumbal realises he must have said yes when he meant no. Nalia is duly booted from the party and we head back to the city only for Delon to find us and request aid.
We return to Umar where the mayor says we should expect a long drawn out combat against Orogs. Have you seen my Death spell says Indy.
This is enough for Indy to level up again and obtain new spells at level 5 6 and 7.
Next we study our map and make for Windspear Hills where we errantly kill some paladins and return acorns so the nymphs we encountered in the chateau are finally free.
Inside the Windspear temple Rumbal is level-drained by a vampiric mist while in his inventory. Indy uses a scroll of lesser restoration while another vampiric mist homes in. Rumbal is ready this time and uses his mace on it - followed by perhaps six more as a steady stream of mists make their way to us. Once the mists stop pestering us we make steady progress until encountering an Adamantite golem. Rumbal notices Indy is lowering it's resistances so assumes he should leave it for feeblemind but after two castings of that are saved against he instead blinds it so Rumbal moves into melee.
Indy is almost inconsolable about the lack of feeblemind success, but at least he can rely on Death spell.
That cheers Indy up a bit but he wanted to follow up with a skulltrap. Rumbal is in the way but shouts out to let them have it anyway and a bit of friendly face fire will be fine.
Vampires are next - Rumbal is suitably protected until realising he doesn't have Daystar equipped. On doing so he switched from the Mace and back but managed to do this without a further level drain.
Indy has 75% natural fire resistance so uses a ring to get immunity and defeats five guardians. Rumbal dons the face mask made by parts these guardians dropped to combat a sixth but is temporarily caught by an earlier web. Indy prepares to step in but Rumbal is free with little or no damage.
Indy prepares three skull traps for Samia and her gang. One of them is killed but the rest are more than ready for us. After an initial retreat we push back into their room but Rumbal's lack of armour is starting to show. He gulps a potion of healing dropped by the fallen enemy but has to run after killing Akae. He almost kills Chak too but after pushing his luck for a couple of rounds he finally listens to Indy and flees.
After a bit of a regroup we have a summon in place so target with bow and spells. Indy wants to finish with a Sunfire but he is a moment too late.
At the end of this session I saved into MP209 5 and told Grond0 we must have had 2 goes in BG:EE and 3 in BGII:EE, forgetting the 5 is for BGII:EE alone. Anyway we push on through the Windspear Hills temple;
Rumbal once more demonstrated his relatively light armour class and lack of easily-available healing potions, just able to outlast a pair of greater werewolves once one is stunned by Indy.
A fraction further we clear out orogs as golems arrive - Indy successfully uses Feeblemind here so Rumbal can move in to melee towards the end of combat.
A few steps further we are accosted by an Air Elemental which Indy blinds.
After that there are more golems to dispose of. As we throw missiles at a second Adamantite golem we muse about whether it should be able to remove lintels from doors, if they should undergo limbo training and when you sell these old ruins would the buyers notice head-scrapes along the ceilings.
Rumbal kills a werewolf before a Death spell lands, and the greater werewolf with it is immune. It doesn't last too long against us though and the next two werewolves fall to another Death spell.
Firkraag tells us to deal with his mage. Conster is using invisibility to good effect but Kitthix is keeping him occupied. Rumbal eventually opts to use his purge invisibility spell but Indy has a more direct route that eliminates Conster, Kitthix and the freshly-arrived berserk warrior.
Rumbal asks Indy to prepare some skulltraps in case we need them against Firkraag. Indy isn't too keen on this but eventually puts down a few in a position where he thinks we shouldn't be buffeted into.
We do some massive preparation, swapping equipment and Rumbal even gulping two potions (frost giant strength and 50% fire resistance). We check we are ready and Indy starts with a Lower Resistance.
Firkraag isn't fussed about this so Indy casts it thrice more and then applies a Feeblemind - so we set about the dragon with him unaware that bits are falling off him. This is safe for us but ultimately the thrill of near-certain maiming was missing.
Our way out of the building is momentarily blocked but Indy applies an easement in that regard.
Our inventories are heaving with stuff so we return to Umar and sell what we can. There is no sign of any rangerly duties so we continue on to Athkatla and remove the guardians of the secret sewer doorway. One of them has survived says Indy after his barrage of spells end, no he didn't says Rumbal.
I'd like to say our entry into the secret illithid takeover den went smoothly but an archer mercilessly exploited Rumbal's studded leather defences and forced him to use Gaxx invisibility.
As the enemies switched their attention to Indy the ranger activated a Gaxx haste and plinked back before his companion's stoneskin expired. We moved on to the next room and the few remaining enemies there fell without getting to grips with us.
The next room contained an umber hulk and various illithid - one of which died along with the umber hulk. We retreated while using missiles and discovered a mage who had hidden from our earlier attack
With the mage dead we returned our attention back to the remaining illithid. Rumbal stood for a bit of melee but after one slurp of his brain he staggered back shooting arrows as he went.
Rumbal felt we had matters under control but Indy had been observing minute meteor damage on the final ulitharid and decided to crank the heat up a little.
We rested before tackling the final room. As Indy patiently buffed Rumbal impatiently slipped into the shadows and opened the door. The Alhoon within was able to ignore invisibility or decided to walk towards us with the door open, so Indy found himself having to cut short his buffs.
The Alhoon was soon dealt with by Indy circling it, and Rumbal using a Gaxx haste to shoot down the mirror images and then continuing until it was dead.
Indy then went exploring and paid the price by getting himself dominated. Rumbal was able to slip into the shadows again and after confirming the illithid weren't brain-hungry enough to slurp Indy he waited for Indy to recover.
We enagaged once more and Indy seemed taken aback as Rumbal ran when targeted by several psionic blasts. Why the concern - Rumbal was protected.
Rumbal mentioned that we had rested and so the spirit armour buff had worn off.
We retreated a bit and re-applied said Spirit Armour, and then Indy went into straw-slinging range as Rumbal shot at anything that moved, or twitched on the floor.
Roger fenced more stuff for us and then we headed back to Umar. Our final ranger duty lay ahead of us and Rumbal proved himself up to the job thanks to Indy's buffs. Indy however was held by a Glabrezu.
Rumbal weighed up the options, and decided to kill the skeleton before returning to the Glabrezu. He killed it without his hit points going anywhere near 90 and into the 'hold zone'.
Indy wanted to know if we had to introduce ourselves to the troublesome mage here and Rumbal said not. Indy took that a bit too far with one more skulltrap than required, and that gave him the chance to see if he could arrange a post-combat death. Once more he got away with it thanks to stoneskin etc.
Rumbal now has a Moon Dog figurine and hands Kitthix over to Indy since he had wands of Fire and Cloudkill that are rarely used.
We are a long way into the session when we remember something about a Rod of Resurrection. Yes, it may take us far longer than intended but we do get there eventually. Now we have the rod we ought to see about finishing the Unseeing Eye quest.
Our plan here is that we'll deal with any beholders from a distance and that is more or less how it plays out - Indy taking the odd minor risk and Rumbal nipping in for the killing blow here and there so Indy isn't wasting an entire spell on single near-dead enemies. Towards the end we grew a bit more reckless and Rumbal killed one Beholder before Indy could join in.
At one point we did discuss the Petrification trap here, and Indy surmised Spell Immunity: Alteration would be a suitable counter - and was correct.
We end the session with our inventories filling up nicely - and Rumbal thinking he could do with a bag of holding but that will have to wait as Indy mentioned a Planar Prison so that should be on our agenda for next time.
(due to rl distraction on my part we stopped just before facing the Unseeing Eye itself)
Today's session included a number of close shaves - building up to a final encounter where the razor slipped a touch too far ...
The starting position was in the Temple sewers and Tarnor and his party were temptingly near. An opening skull trap by Indy was followed up with slow and emotion - by which time most of the opponents were dead. Gaius though was still fighting on and Kencore had to save against a finger of death before Thwaka found a hole in the mage's stoneskin.
Indy then decided to get rid of the decomposing corpse in his backpack, so led the way to the Planar Sphere. The halflings there were easy enough, but the 2 mages later on caused more problems. First Thwaka was confused when trying for a backstab and stayed stuck in place while more spells hit - and then was held by Necre (initially I assumed that was the result of using his stiletto, which has a hold ability, but a review of the screenshots suggests he was actually using ghoul touch). With Thwaka about to die, Siri nipped in to try and save him with an invisibility - but was promptly held as well. He had just enough HPs in hand to survive though while Kencore finished off the opponents.
Lavok was attacked by the flesh golem and beaten to the ground before Thwaka showed herself.
Kencore led the way to grab a demon heart - spirit armor and improved invisibility stiffening his defenses while he bulldozed his opponent. Improved invisibility was also used to baffle Tolgerias about what to do against Kencore. Unfortunately it was Thwaka that had been spotted first (one of the quirks of MP is that stealth tends to disappear during an area transition without any warning that it has failed) and a wilting killed her before the others could take revenge.
The fire room almost saw the end of the run. Siri had been congratulating himself when his emotion had sent both the noble efreeti and the greater elemental unconscious. That tempted him to move into the room, but the efreeti caught him out by casting a scorcher at him despite remaining unconscious - and suddenly Siri was grimly hanging on to his last HP. A quick transfer of the rod of resurrection allowed Thwaka to restore his HPs before any more damage could strike.
Some golems in the engine room did quite a bit of damage, though there was no more real edge of the seat stuff there.
With one planar adventure narrowly survived, Siri pushed his luck by immediately setting out to find another. A mugger on the way saw the potential for a big gain, but ended up being totally wrong about who would regret the encounter .
The entrance to the Planar Prison took place with everyone invisible and hasted. Thwaka did a good job to backstab the mage before he could complete a true sight.
Siri then made himself visible by starting to cast a skull trap at the main group of enemies. That resulted in him being put to sleep by the Pixie Prick - but not before he finished casting the spell and killing his attacker as a result.
A number of umber hulks died in a wand cloudkill on the way to find the Master of Thralls - summons helped deal with him quickly.
That just left the Warden and he was quickly under pressure from Kencore - who was once more under improved invisibility. With the others joining the attack the odds looked good for another quick win, but things started going wrong when Thwaka was confused and attacked Siri. That led to the latter running away and meant Kencore was delayed in dealing with a few umber hulks and working through the Warden's protections. As a result his invisibility ran out (I did wonder if there was a true sight that I missed while running away from Thwaka, but reviewing the video record of the encounter confirms there wasn't) and his half-orc saving throws were not sufficient to protect him from a flesh to stone spell. That meant we had no visibility of the area, but initially we expected to see a heroic bust of Kencore when Thwaka recovered and sneaked forward. Regrettably though there was nothing there and a close review of the battle text showed why - Kencore had attacked between the petrification spell being cast and it affecting him and the backlash from the Warden's fire shield had then destroyed the statue (the text saying Siri: death is another MP quirk).
The Warden though was keen to avoid any possible dispute about whether that was the end of the run. He of course could see Thwaka sneaking into sight range and fired off a disintegrate - and suddenly Siri's party consisted of himself .
Siri did though fancy inflicting a bit of revenge and quickly added a few buffs before confronting the Warden directly. One of the buffs was minor globe and that allowed him to drop a few skulls at his feet ...
We rolled three more characters up without conferring. Loury waited in the lobby for a while until he heard and then saw Corecleric arrive. Swish joined us and then we were off.
The Candlekeep chores don't take long to do when split three ways and we had maybe 20 minutes to make our mark on the Sword coast. After recruiting and booting Imoen + Xzar + Montaron we deal with Shoal the nereid which nets levels for Swish and Corecleric.
Returning a ring to Mad Arcand is the other item we do in this area before going to Beregost where we deal with Neera, Marl, Firebead, Karlat, and Perdue. Swish gets to level 3 while Loury gets to level 2.
Our gear at the end of the session - Swish having been given hand-me-down leather armour (from Montaron to Loury to Swish) as the screenshots are taken. Loury is meanwhile stretching the armour he retrieved from Karlat.
I was at last able to take a holiday which has caused my absence for 2 weeks, so have missed reading about 40 posts here. Hopefully I will gradually be able to read them all.
Here is an update of what I have done since my return (Not much)
I cleared Razemith's Tower and killed Razemith.
I got the necklace of missiles from Nadine and found the Helm and Cloak of Balduran.
"Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin". Wyrme gulped - the need for a narrator did not bode well.
They say your life flashes before your eyes in times of extreme danger and that might explain matters. Everything had been going to plan, until it hadn't.
An earlier image flickered in front of her eyes. Ah, the sewer golem pretending to be foiled by a few steps and an open door. That seemed like such a long time ago now, although it was only 90 days or so.
The next image reminded Wyrme how she'd lost what little reputation she'd had in Amn.
She could remember a temple visit to exchange cash for grace, restoring her reputation beyond what it was before. If only everything in life was so simple.
There was a large gap in her memory, and the rest of her previous adventurers were lost to her unless previously documented. A host of new memories had taken their place though. She thought hard about what she had done and realised nothing was recorded after returning from the Planar Prison. That was two chapters and fifty six days ago.
Her journal had suggested a trip to Umar Hills where she had recorded paying 100gp for a chicken. With a little more thought she remembered the host of undead, including liches. To her surprise none of the undead could resist the latest of her special snares and even the liches became mazed, albeit only for one round - enough to add another snare and make them easy prey.
A shadow dragon had taken a minor backstab for about 12 damage and promptly failed to survive six normal snares. A shade lord took another backstab and a Daystar Sunray - that also killed his companions leaving the Shadow Altar to await a single sunstone bullet. The people of Umar were overjoyed to have this threat removed, and even more overjoyed when Wyrme sold loot to them and moved on.
What was next in the journal - something about Rejiek Hidesman. Wyrme could not remember exactly when she ventured to the tannery basement other than a long time after finding who the guilty party was. She had killed two ghasts and one assassin there when a second assassin and a bone golem appeared - they too were safely despatched.
The remaining work for Aran Linvail also showed as completed, a significant time lag there suggested Wyrme may have waited for her first High Level Ability and Use Any Item allows for the Amulet of Power to be worn. Assuming this was the case there wasn't much of concern noted here so matters must have proceeded smoothly.
Open quests in chapter 3 are for the cult of the eyeless, the De Arnise keep, Windspear Hills, the Planar Sphere, and something about finishing leather armour.
What clues could Wyrme obtain from chapter 4 of her journal. This all seemed to be about Brynnlaw and Spellhold. The trip to Brynnlaw itself was uneventful but a trio of vampires awaited her arrival, only to be backstabbed in turn.
Ginia and her brother were helped to leave Brynnlaw, while Perth the Adept relinquished his grip on a wardstone, a magical book of infinite spells, and his life. Wyrme casually flicked through the magical book with increasing interest. She ignored the fireball page, skipped over the Farsight page, ignored Invisibility, and found the last page contained Burning Hands. Oh well, it might be useful.
The administrator at Spellhold seemed to be expecting Wyrme. She duly followed him for the brief guided tour, the conclusion of which was where he revealed his true identity as Irenicus and that he had managed to interfere with something Wyrme ate. She slumped unconscious and awoke as one of many thieves in a jar. Her fate was less gruesome than that of the other thieves as she took her chance to backstab the dreamy Bhaal presence and return to the jar minus her Bhaalspawn special abilities.
Clap clap. Well done indeed said Irenicus. Now go play cat and mouse with Bodhi and her vampires.
Wyrme was unphased by this, and worked her way around the Spellhold Maze. After encountering a lich she used a snare and then taunted it with Daystar as various spells bounced off her dwarven saving throws.
The other enemies here were of little worth apart from a gauth which Wyrme realised could not be backstabbed (my lack of thief solo runs starts to show, and a later conversation with Grond0 advises them to to immune and that beholders will be the same, a matter confirmed by my Assassin in the trio).
With the gauth taking lesser damage and dishing out magical damage of it's own, Wyrme retreats and sends in the efreeti. She returns for another abortive backstab but the efreeti has ended combat before she is in place.
Bodhi and her vampires observe a first Slayer form and decide to leave, so Wyrme is free to exit. Saemon Havarian decides to make up for allowing Wyrme to consume a tainted meal earlier by suggesting a means to leave Brynnlaw. Since this involves stealing something from the Pirate Lord Wyrme is unable to resist and we set sail.
Our ship is subsequently attacked and Wyrme finds herself in the City of Caverns where a Sahuagin King convinces himself that Wyrme is the saviour of their kingdom. Why yes I am states Wyrme.
The assertion has to be proved though, by combat with an ettin. Wyrme realises even with two heads it cannot see behind a pillar at the arena edge and she can run around the wall to hide. A few backstabs are enough to defeat it and Wyrme is given a task to kill a Sahuagin Prince.
Shortly after this she is given a task to talk to the Prince, and he in turn gives her a task to kill the King. This is all getting a bit complicated so Wyrme kills the king and the prince before looting their treasury and heading into the Underdark where everything gets more complicated.
A lone mind flayer is nearby, one backstab panics it and a second hit kills it. Wyrme finds her way to a nearby store and purchases a Freedom scroll. With Use Any Item she is able to cast it and release a mage - he wants a book retrieved so Wyrme agrees to see if she can do this.
While looking for the book Wyrme is distracted and agrees to deal with something that has been dug up. She sets a few snares, and finds she should have set more. After turning to retreat she changes her mind and swings her staff of Rhynn +4 instead. Success.
This is all going terribly well thinks Wyrme. She even plans ahead a little, setting some snares in what looks like an obvious ambush place. She chuckles to herself and moves north, setting another snare at the foot of a bridge - that should be plenty.
A drow war party teleport in and Wyrme goes for a backstab. Afterwards she realises she has wrongfooted herself and is stuck on the bridge with attackers either side.
She pummels away at one drow but they are starting to get the upper hand. She gulps an extra healing potion (probably the first since picking up the Ring of Gaxx) and a round or so later uses the staff of Air to summon an Air elemental. Things are steadily going downhill so she gulps a potion of thief frost giant strength (from thief potions HLA), a potion of regeneration (no observed icon or effect possibly due to already wearing ring of Gaxx) and then the supreme ignomy of three potions of Superior healing (picked up 5 in Watchers Keep) followed by a potion of power (picked up 4 in the druid grove).
It's a grim combat alright but eventually two drow are removed and after nudging the Air Elemental out of the way just before it dies Wyrme can run. She turns and runs the other way as she doesn't want these drow to run into the previously set snares. Although badly wounded she is recovering and the freedom to move means her backstabs can come back into play.
After that major scare (below 20hp 3 times, low of 11hp, and thought the game was over) Wyrme establishes a bit more control and makes her way to Adalon the silver dragon and the drow city of Ust Natha. Once inside she realises she hasn't done any of the three 'blood / brain' quests so kicks herself for that. Speaking to Solaufein earns the chance to rescue Phaere from mind flayers and exiting the city sees a group of ambushers fall to snares before Wyrme can move from the city entrance.
Two of this group have survived, Chandrilla is badly wounded and takes two backstabs while Damien is uninjured and hiding for backstabs of his own. Wyrme is uncertain as to how damaging he is so uses her detect illusion ability to foil him a few times. He lands one minor backstab and misses a couple of times before he runs out of potions, and once he is fully visible he is an easy victim.
Wyrme turns to head for where Solaufein agreed to meet her, then realises she has not cleared out the Kuo-Toa. She stops in time, knowing they can see through invisibility, are fast, and are good fighters. None of this is welcome news to Wyrme as it will not play to her strengths.
Wyrme tries to engage them one at a time but they recognise this approach and an entire group converge. Wyrme finds herself wishing for a damaging area attack, and the only one she can think of (Daystar Sunray) proves to be both damaging and blinding.
Wyrme switches to a hit and run approach, using another strength potion but taking plenty of damage herself. She continues with hit and run, adopting a predator-prey approach of identifying stragglers from the 'herd / shoal' and going for that target.
The approach works well, and Wyrme improves it a little by using her detect illusion ability (100%) to remove mirror images from one mage.
So, despite a lack of adequate planning (and not getting a solo non-fighter this far before) Wyrme escapes the clutches of death. She just has to figure out how to do one of the three elder blood/brain quests in a time limit and whether Deirex the lich should be left alone. Also how to deal with the silver dragon (Grond0 said traps near her are fine but I think I will set them a little bit away as I am fairly sure she has gone hostile, as per Saladrax etc., and would prefer not to chance it).
Rumbal and Indy soon establish they have a rod assembled and are stood near to where they will encounter the Unseeing Eye. It's clear what we must do.
First, Indy must wonder why Rumbal is standing idle as Cerebus and Indy are treated to Wilts.
Eventually Rumbal kicks into gear and Indy takes a well-deserved level.
On our way out Rumbal spots something strange, and has to go investigate. Turns out to be nothing of interest.
Rumbal starts to kill off kobolds near Roger the fence, while Indy checks out his power word spell.
A trio of vampires are waiting for us in the Bridge district but we are both immune to level drain and they soon leave once the mace of disruption makes it's mark.
Rumbal checks with Indy whether we are ready to investigate the Planar Prison. We have no half-orcs in our party so yes we are ready. One of their casters fails to complete his detect invisibility spell.
Indy fails to cast his first spell and has to run from a very determined bounty hunter. Rumbal keeps considering whether to help but Indy fails to cast a second spell and has to run further. By the time Indy is ready to try again Rumbal has whittled down the remaining opposition and intervenes in the running fight.
Rumbal scouts out the next party only to find Indy has summoned a Mordy sword to annoy them.
The wyvern is swept aside, but the Master of Thralls is proving harder to kill until Rumbal activates his sole whirlwind attack.
The Warden is killed as a buffed Rumbal is in melee and Indy is dropping spells from a safe distance. His remaining yuan-ti are no threat either.
We purchase another two scrolls of Protection from Undead and use a Rogue stone to visit the Twisted Rune. Shangalar falls to missiles, Vaxall to a Skulltrap and Revanek panics. Rumbal makes to shoot him but Indy has nipped in and finished him off. Shaldrissa is treated to missiles but moves and Rumbal steps into sight of Layene who casts Timestop.
Rumbal races to the area entry point and as an incendiary cloud starts he races back, then prepares to move up but Indy has disrupted Layene and killed Shaldrissa with his next spell. By the time Rumbal moves Indy has applied a finishing spell too and we pick up a couple of items to depart before a mazed pit fiend returns.
Our reputation (20) and Indy's charisma (19) would suggest shopping is cheap and we have about 170k of cash, but Indy retrieves a Friends scroll from his container to cheapen the cost of the robe of Vecna.
We empty our backpacks of component items and add a few useful items, and then return to Aran Linvail to set off for Brynnlaw. Rumbal maces two awaiting vampires as Indy Wilts the survivor then we quickly secure passage for Ginia and brother before triple-skulltraping Perth the Adept.
Indy Death spells various shadows on our way into Spellhold, and once we are released into a maze by Irenicus Indy Death spells two groups of umber hulks and various other critters. Rumbal's main task is to operate as a collection-point for the spells to focus towards.
A lich proves problematic for Indy's spells and after a bit of to and fro Rumbal has had enough and uses a whirlwind mace attack to end the impasse. Lassal is also maced and after we hunt for a suitable stake we finish him off.
Indy at this point asks Rumbal to stop passing him unidentified arrows and bolts as most of them are +1's and our lack of lore means we have to stoop to using identify at the expense of Indy's level 1 spells. Rumbal reluctantly agrees (although after the end of the session he empties his missile container and gets this lot identified).
Minotaurs and wolfwere's are added to the Death spell tally before we summon a Mordy sword and Cerebus to help with a trio of golems. The combat lasts a few rounds but neither summon has any damage.
Rumbal involuntarily turns into the Slayer to scare off Bodhi, and then rests behind a wall to prevent attacking Indy the next time we rest. Two more groups of minotaurs are Death spelled while Rumbal melees down a gauth.
Rumbal is expecting spore colonies and myconids to be added to the Death spell tally but Indy opts for a Wilt which is entirely effective. This leaves a Death spell free to kill three trolls that were guarding an altar, and we place one troll head into the altar to exchange it for a club that will be perma-bagged.
Irenicus is treated to a part round of Whirlwind before Rumbal departs and Indy applies a Wilt. Then Wanev casts Time Stop. The battle is over but Irenicus will concede defeat when he feels like it.
A group of murderers are trying to use shadows to sneak up on us, Rumbal thinks he has the matter in hand as he summons Cerebus and activates True Sight but a round or two later Indy loses patience and Wilts the area.
Rumbal is by now at level 20, Indy level 19 and our inventory is looking decent. Rumbal is somewhat bemused to see Indy preferring the Pixie Prick dagger to the Staff of the Magi but is soon told how effective the sleep ability of the dagger is. He should consider himself lucky not to receive a first-hand demonstration.
Wyrme takes some advice, and ignores other advice.
The advice taken allows her to obtain an elder orb eye stalk (Grond0 asking if Wyrme had the shield of Balduran and throwing a maze trap before laying further snares for when it returns.
With that successfully done she completes the tasks in Ust Natha and after the Matron Mother and Phaere are killed she leaves with the dragon eggs.
Then she lays snares some distance from the silver dragon, inching closer with each snare. Eventually she realises the dragon will not go hostile (so I was wrong and Grond0 was right).
Attacking Adalon sees her use a breath weapon and cone of cold as three snares fire. Wyrme is unable to coax the dragon into the four furthest snares despite offering herself as bait and then using Kitthix, the berserk warrior, the efreeti, an air elemental, and the flesh golem.
Wyrme tries a few more times, taking some damage as either the breath or more usually the cone hits.
She tries a Maze trap and Adalon disappears. Wyrme just has time to set two snares before the dragon returns. Repeating this a couple of times sees one snare set each time, but Adalon heals herself twice. Wyrme considers resting to continue with more snares but instead decides to see what else she can devise.
Fudging in her containers she removes her Cloak of the Sewers and equips the Cloak of Mirroring. A few more feints cause about 60 damage each so Wyrme feels comfortable continuing with this.
Three or four more attempts later and Wyrme dies from almost full health, presumably having failed a saving throw and taking full damage.
(& a brief check confirms seven close snares would have killed Adalon immediately. Why don't I ever listen!)
I was at last able to take a holiday which has caused my absence for 2 weeks, so have missed reading about 40 posts here. Hopefully I will gradually be able to read them all.
Journal of Arabelle
before visiting the Iron Throne, I decided to visit Durlag's Tower. I cleared all the upper area and got as far as all but finishing the warder quest. Since I haven't yet got the runestones from Ulgoth's I decided to return to the Gate and finish my quests there.
Glad to see @Grond0 trying out the Infinity Run! I hope to see you taking another crack at it. Icewind Dale 2 would be super challenging with multi-classed spellcasters, though--vanilla IWD2 is really unbalanced in favor of single-classed clerics, druids, sorcerers, and to a much lesser extent mages. Multi-classes are really only solid in IWD2EE.
I'm no longer a moderator, so I can't add @histamiini's paladin couple LoB run to the Hall since I can't edit other forumites' posts anymore. I've already reached out to a member of the team. Congratulations!
Glad to see @Grond0 trying out the Infinity Run! I hope to see you taking another crack at it. Icewind Dale 2 would be super challenging with multi-classed spellcasters, though--vanilla IWD2 is really unbalanced in favor of single-classed clerics, druids, sorcerers, and to a much lesser extent mages. Multi-classes are really only solid in IWD2EE.
I have started vanilla BG1 again 3 times, but I wanted to try and reduce the number of party deaths in another run - and was aiming to avoid any party deaths in BG1 (and have failed at that so far). I should be able to manage that eventually though I hope ...
I'm no longer a moderator, so I can't add @histamiini's paladin couple LoB run to the Hall since I can't edit other forumites' posts anymore. I've already reached out to a member of the team. Congratulations!
Oh yeah forgot about that. Here's the input for whoever can edit it:
Lord Vanderley the Cavalier: @histamiini
Notable mods: SCS v33.3, Ascension v2.0.12, LoB Saving Throw Fix
Difficulty: Legacy of Bhaal
Special: Duo Run, v2.5 update (-11 AC in LoB mode)
Having escaped from Spellhold we invisibly run past a group of lizard men and back to Brynnlaw. Saemon Havarian hatches a plan to help us escape, which naturally involves him acquiring a ship. Rumbal seems happy to play pirates but Indy decides a Death spell should be used.
After a few moments aboard the ship we are boarded twice and it sinks under the strain of battle. Finding ourselves in a sahuagin city of caverns we quickly make our way around it - at this point Indy unleashes another Death spell, presumably as a result of Rumbal beating him to the nearest acid blob trap.
Our way to deal with the sahuagin prince almost results in a short-cut until Indy remembers we haven't spoken to their priestess and agreed a parley. Back we go.
With the parley arranged we concoct a ruse with the prince to kill the king, and once the king is dead we keep our word kill the prince too and descend into the Underdark.
There we release an imprisoned mage, and the swirf child. Rumbal feels like picking up an elder orb eyestalk in case we need one later so we race invisibly past it and gird ourselves.
Indy is spotted by it though (multiplayer positioning as he tries to cast a spell) so we retreat a bit into sight of some drow fighting a beholder. Once that beholder dies we kill off the drow so we have a bit of room to manouvre.
Then we carefully send in a few summons to soften up the Elder Orb. At one point Indy is spotted and held by it's companion beholder but that is almost dead and a whirlwind of archery from Rumbal kills it. Indy recovers and we are able to pick up the eyestalk in safety.
A group of drow think we are easy prey - well they bit off more than they could chew and Cerebus in particular made them work for their death.
Rumbal can see Indy is injured but he decides to press on and see what else Cerebus can do while summoned. The answer is that Cerebus can be easily confused and Indy has to move away from him, while Rumbal is happy in melee and Indy has a Wilt or two left to settle matters.
Indy isn't too happy for a temporarily blinded Rumbal to be in melee against a vorpalling Balor, but Rumbal uses a whirlwind and another Wilt keeps us safe. Nothing can go wrong.
After reporting back to the swirf we bag a light gem and pick off some kuo-toa and a drow raiding party. Then we head to the lair of Adalon but can't see to make our way inside. A quick check confirms we have lost the light gem (I went to bag it without thinking and in multiplayer you can occasionally lose items this way - and we had).
So without the gem we were stuck, unable to get to the dragon, unable to enter the drow city and unable to reach the underdark exit. There was only one thing for us to do, and that was not to use the console. Instead we would roll up another pair of adventurers who wouldn't be so daft.
A new run was kicked off by the usual random choice of characters intended to ensure variety in game play - though my previous dragon disciple was replaced by a sorcerer (reminding me of the way Apple made their ipod shuffle song selection less random to avoid any apparent patterns appearing) .
After leaving Candlekeep and fertilising the Crossroads with a few NPC bodies, we ignored the easy level from Shoal for once and went straight to Beregost. Then it was on to Nashkel, where an attractive set of green armor matched Drudge's eyes. Not content with that she demanded a weapon upgrade as well, so we made a quick trip to some nearby tombs to pick up a free +2 dagger from Hentold.
The Carnival had supplied a PfP scroll, so we moved on to the basilisk area to look for some easy XP. That didn't seem quite so easy while a greater basilisk was attempting to melee Drudge while we were still at 1st level. Three attempts at blinding it failed, but eventually it switched back to its gaze attack and Drudge was able to stick her bootdagger in. With the basilisks all dead, Drudge was up to level 5 and Scenic level 4. That meant Scenic could chuck 3 webs at Mutamin, which briefly held him. When he broke free he was looking for revenge, but that was put on hold when lightning slashed down from the sky through his mirrors.
Kirian's party don't have the same good saves and were all held in place by webs while being blinded to allow for easy disposal.
Durlag's Tower was nearby and looked like a good source for some more quick XP. The first battle horror there was doomed and blinded before being subjected to lightning and magic missiles. Scenic had a rest in mind before the second, but Drudge was made of sterner stuff and pressed the attack even after the battle horror resisted Scenic's only remaining blind. Doom meant the battle horror initially needed a critical to hit and only landed a single blow while Scenic emptied nearly all of Imoen's magic missile wand at it.
The battle horror on the wall and the doom guard both faced a full selection of spells and were easily dealt with.
Inside the tower Scenic made a mistake by trying to shoot the ghast guarding the exit onto the roof. As that moves to attack, it tends to break line of sight - meaning an attacker moves towards it. While that was hardly a surprise, Scenic was slow to move and was hit by the ghast - but fortunately saved to prolong the run a bit further. Drudge looked scornfully on at her partner's antics and decided to show her how it should be done - duly getting held herself when moving into melee range . Scenic had magic missiles available though and the ghast was undecided about which target to attack, so was killed without any more damage to Drudge.
On the roof, Scenic webbed a lesser basilisk and attempted to blind it, but without success. A doppleganger nearby saw what was happening and caused Scenic to run around a bit before going invisible again. Her movement had led the basilisk to move next to the door and there was just room at the edge of the roof for Scenic to get out of sight - or so she thought . This was clearly one occasion where the sight lines were asymmetrical and the basilisk spotted her as soon as she became visible - and once more the run looked about to end. Fortunately the basilisk was a bit slow to focus its gaze and the cast of web then held it. It failed to break free immediately and Scenic successfully blinded it next round.
On the upper roof there were more webs and blindness to deal with the 3 greater basilisks, getting Drudge up to level 7. Back inside, Riggilo was initially grateful to receive a lock of hair - only to find that was restricting his movement. That was only the start of his trouble with the ladies though. Drudge doomed him, Scenic blinded him and then a first outing for a nymph held him. Not content with mere killing though the nymph demonstrated her abilities as a dominatrix before he finally received a mercy stroke.
Angmar’s head was pounding. As he struggled to get his bearings, he heard a voice that only served to make it worse. He felt like he was coming out of a deep sleep, a dream, and had no idea where he was. He felt a twinge of fear. “What’s going on? Where am I?” Then he heard the voice again and it started to sound familiar. It sounded like Imoen. He had not seen her since he replaced her in Beregost, years ago it seemed. But there the voice was again. Struggling to get his bearings he heard, “Wake up you.” It was Imoen but how did she get here? And where was here?
Putting his aching head body aside, he set his mind on escaping. He did not know why Imoen was there but did not have time to worry about that now. After he got moving and started battling his way out, he forgot his pain and focused on the task at hand. The only time he felt it was when they rested and his muscles tightened up. He had scars that he did not have when he destroyed Sarevok but he also had no memory beyond that incident and did not know where he had gotten them.
The escape route blocked by numerous Mephits, Duerger’s, Assassins, a Cambion, a Vampiress. He noted that Imoen’s skills were vastly improved. He did not ask, but she had apparently been busy adventuring since he released her from his service. For now, he needed her. Along the way, he was joined by a Rogue from Kara-Tur, Yoshimo; released a Half-Elven Sorcerer, Adrian, from chains; and met a Drow Fighter, Yasraena, as he was leaving the complex. Escaping the tunnels into the light, he found himself amid a battle between his captor and several rogues. Before he could think to strike his tormentor though, both his captor and Imoen were taken by a group of wizards that he later learned were called, Cowled Wizards. In the aftermath of the battle, he added a Blademaster, Calin to his side. For now, he wanted people around him – he would sort them out later.
DESTROYING HIS FIRST VAMPIRESS
He knew now that he was in Amn, Athkatla to be precise. He was approached by a rogue who promised he could help Angmar find the mage Irenicus. It would cost 20,000 GP, but it was worth it to exact his revenge.
PARTY INFORMATION
ORDER OF MARCH:
Imoen (Rogue skills)
Yoshimo (Rogue Skills)
Angmar
Adrian (Arcane Magic)
57 minutes into our second session Loury finally takes a screenshot. This leads to a question of what we've been doing for the last hour. Loury thinks about making stuff up again and then remembers he can just browse through our screen capture.
It turns out we headed south from Beregost, killing the ogrillions. @Corey_Russell did his best at this point to recruit Mrs @Grond0 who proudly declared we have more chance of getting a pig to fly. With this brief attempt to recruit another victim to the party we returned to the game.
Swish wiped the hobgoblin blood off Zhurlong's boots and slipped into them. We then proceeded in a southerly direction to retrieve an amulet (for Mr Colquetle) and head into Nashkel. Loury briefly thought about letting Corecleric wear the unearthed ankheg armour but then equipped it himself.
A discussion about finding gauntlets of dexterity for Swish saw us travel southwest, returning Ruffie the dog to his owner and then relieving Caldo and Krumm of their lives. Corecleric is given the crushing girdle, then the gauntlets are picked up for Swish.
Loury tries his hand against a polar bear and is found wanting. He runs around in circles as Swish and Corecleric shoot it down. Nice job.
Then we pick off Bjornin's ogres - Corecleric thinking Loury is after a magical shield until Loury mentions they are merely collateral on the way to picking up other items (a scimitar +3 for Swish and Mithral chain +4 for Corecleric). Many rounds are spent looking in vain for Drizzt - we arrive just as he is killed by gnolls that we have been studiously avoiding.
We return to Beregost, obtaining a ring of protection +1 for delivering a letter, reputation for Mr Colquetle's amulet and some more blood on Zhurlong's boots (his own) which Swish wipes off once more.
We try to deal with Perdue only to find we did that last time and Corecleric is carrying another short sword for no reason. Corecleric fails twice to silence Silke so we slink away. After a rest Loury asks Swish to pick up a bastard sword +1 from the forge, and then we kill some spiders in a house nearby.
Corecleric suggests we can go find Landrin at the Friendly Arm Inn where she will no doubt show her appreciation for dealing with the spiders. Loury organises a brief detour to pick up Samuel the deserter, and we stop off on the way back to take a girdle of piercing from an ogre for Swish. He also gets a Ring of Protection +1, and we pick up a ring of Wizardry plus Joia's ring on the way.
Then we travel north to kill a trio of fishermen and descend into a nearby ankheg nest and our first screenshot of Loury gulping a healing potion and healing himself from our first encounter therein.
It takes us about 10 minutes to clear the nest, return a body to the farmer, hand the plate taken from the fishermen to a priestess and kill a final ankheg.
Corecleric is feeling the need for a magical warhammer. There's one here:
We decide to travel west. Corecleric heads to the other west (east) so we wait for him to come back). Zargal and his hobgoblins are waiting for us and Swish takes the opportunity to spill a bit more blood on his boots.
We realise Corecleric can summon a pair of skeletons, and this leads to our next plan. The plan pans out better than we hoped, with two skeletons surviving against basilisks, Mutamin and Kirian's party of incapacitated adventurers.
All good things must come to an end however, and we decide to travel to the western coast in search of sirines. A lone basilisk has sensed our slaughter of it's brethren and ambushes us.
We rapidly disagree about what to do. Corecleric wants to try Command on it, while he is overruled and we run south.
Swish is summarily turned to stone, while Loury thinks about crazy plans to kill the basilisk Corecleric keeps his head and we depart. Two stone to flesh scrolls are bought at Nashkel temple, and three potions of mirrored eyes are purchased from High Hedge.
Then we travel repeatedly between the Rock Garden and Nashkel temple until we are ambushed again. Corecleric rescues Swish and gets him back in the party while Loury kills the two worgs in this ambush.
We change our minds now and head to Nashkel Mine, change our minds again and kill Greywolf.
Now we head into Nashkel Mine and at the base of that we Silence Mulahey and kill him.
The Amazons outside find they are unprepared for our cleric preparations.
This leaves us free to pick on a silenced Nimbul as our final act of the session.
Gate70 said...
We try to deal with Perdue only to find we did that last time and Corecleric is carrying another short sword for no reason.
I love this line! What actually happened was I tried to loot a gem at the gnoll fortress, but one of you got the gem instead, so by the time my "loot" registered I got the xvart's short sword instead. I don't think I even realized that had happened till you mentioned in game I was carrying the sword.
Comments
After grabbing a suitably slicey sword (katana) the plucky paladin quickly frees Imoen, Jaheira and Minsc to make their own way out. They look a little worried about this but a use of Detect Evil assures them all is fine.
Around a corner Uvweo bumps into a genie and a short conversation sees an angry ogre mage appear. He has a bastard sword though so Uvweo kills him and grabs it. The day is as good as won.
He races through several more encounters until finally reaching a cambion. That looks like a magical bastard sword so he buffs before releasing it and is soon brandishing the sword - if only he could identify it to revel in it's power (+1).
It is but the work of several rests to escape the area, only to find there is another level of the dungeon ahead. Yoshimo is told to make his own way out but before he leaves he talks of mephit portals in the next room. Uvweo is well aware of this and uses his longbow to plink at the closest pair of portals while two mephits try and fail to take advantage of his ranged melee handicap.
With those portals closed, Uvweo shoots the third and then starts on the fourth. A radiant mephit closes in and uses it's special ability - but Uvweo is wise to this and runs away from it and towards the portal. He shuts it down before the mephit can try a second colour spray.
A trio of dryads reveal the dungeon is run by Irenicus and his bedroom is that way. Uvweo heads over and loots all he can carry (including a spike in the unmentionables which is why he doesn't want to hear about a stick up his paladinly posterior).
He finds a potion of firebreath and equips it in case he meets any fleeing vampires but the only one encountered takes a minor hit then a large hit to die without need for fire.
Here's what he carried out of the dungeon. Stick hidden, obviously.
Angmar focused amidst the melee, tapping into his divine spark, and unleashed Divine Wrath on his half-brother. Sarevok, who was already gravely wounded, could not take unleashed power of the burst. Seeing him fall, Sarevok’s allies, Tazok and Angelo, quickly melted away, making their escape out the back of the Temple.
SAREVOK FALLS
Getting to this point required destruction of two of Sarevok's most trusted Assassin's, Sythe and Krysten in the cities under-cellars and defeating his heartbroken former paramour, Tamoko who begged Angmar to be merciful with Sarevok.
SLAYING SYTHE
KILLING KRYSTEN
BACKSTAB!
Angmar surveyed the scene. He would raise Vienxay who fell just moments before Sarevok but had played an instrumental role with her Minor Sequencer - Magic Missile/Melf’s Acid Arrow combination and a timely Chromatic Orb. Baeloth too punished Sarevok with Magic Missile upon Magic Missile. Vynd, with his Boots of Speed, kept Sarevok’s attention, darting in and out with his dual-wielding and the threat of that Short Sword +3 (Shadow Blade), which allowed Dorn and Shar-Teel to work on him unmolested except for the annoyance of Tazok.
Angmar did not yet know what he would do or where he would go. Baeloth would be gone, he had said so moments before this tussle began. He did not know about the others. Dorn seemed to want to be Angmar’s ‘Right Hand’ ever since he found out about his Bhaal parentage. He liked Vynd and would not mind keeping him around, Vienxay too. Shar-Teel he could take or leave. He could buy some land, build a keep of his own and hire troops to man it – he was wealthy enough – but he just did not find that appealing. Not now, anyway. He would leave the Sword Coast, probably head south. Maybe Athkatla.
ORDER OF MARCH:
Dorn (Point)
Shar-teel (Shock)
Vynd (stealth, recon, assassinations)
Vienxay (arcane support, rogue support)
Angmar
Baeloth (arcane Support)
MONSTERS DEFEATED (ordered alphabetically by value): Saravok (Fighter/15 @ 15000 @ UC); Slythe (Fighter/Thief-Assassin//13/15 @ 7500 @ BG); Tamoko (Cleric/10 @ 5000 @ UC); Krysten (Mage-Enchanter/16 @ 4250 @ BG); Greater Doppelgangers (5 @ 4000 @ BG); Skeleton Warriors (3 @ 4000 @ BG); Cythandria (Mage-Invoker/11 @ 2000 @ BG); Doom Guards (3 @ 2000 @ BG); Mustard Jellies (2 @ 2000 @ BG); Ragefest (Mage-Enchanter/7 @ 2000 @ BG); Abela the Nymph (1400 @ BG); Arghh (Ogre Berserker/4 @ 1250 @ BG); Ughh (Ogre Berserker/4 @ 1250 @ BG); Ghasts (12 @ 650 @ UC); Gregor (Thief/6 @ 650 @ BG); Pang Wallen (Fighter/6 @ 300 @ BG); Dhanial (Thief/5 @ 420 @ BG), Dethyr (Bard/5 @ 400 @ BG); Grey Ooze (2 @ 275 @ BG); Ochre Jelly (270 @ BG); Ghouls (13 @ 175 @ UC); Green Slimes (2 @ 65 @ BG); (Skeletons (20 @ 65 @ UC)
* Legend: BG = Baldur’s Gate, DS = Disturb Sleep, RE = Random Encounter, UC = Undercity
LEVEL UP: None
CASUALTIES: Vienxay (Tazok)
NOTEWORTHY TREASURE (ordered alphabetically by value > 250gp or > +2 ): (Gold collected Chapter VI) 1160 Current purse 159491
Armor & Weapons: Dagger +3 (Adder Sting), Short Sword +3 (Shadow Blade), Cutlass +2 (Scorcher), Improved Shadow Armor
Gems/Jewelry: None of note
Potions: Extra Healing (2), Invulnerability
Scrolls: Melf’s Minute Meteors, Mirror Image
Wands: None
Misc & Artifacts: None
BEST KILL:
1) Dorn, Aec’Letec (16000 exp)
2) Vynd, Karoug (8000 exp)
3) Shar-Teel, Slythe (7500 exp)
4) Vienxay, Greater Wyvern; (5000 exp)
5) Baeloth, Teddy the Doomsayer (2500 exp)
CURRENT DISPOSITION: Southeast Baldur’s Gate
NEXT STEPS: South, maybe Athkatla (Shadows of Amn)
PARTY MAKEUP: (Reputation: 6 – Disliked)
Angmar: CE Anti-Paladin (Black Guard of Talos)/8(HP 83); Armor: Plate Mail +3 (Practical Defense), Amulet of Spell Warding, Boots of Avoidance (Senses of the Cat), Crystal Helm, Gauntlet of Dexterity, Golden Girdle (Girdle of Slashing +3), Ring of Fire Shielding (Charvirak’s Glow); Weapons: Spear +3 (Dragon Scepter), Flail +1** (Two-Handed Weapon Style**); Items: Ring of Human Influence; Special Abilities: Absorb Health, Aura of Despair, Cause Affliction (2), Divine Wrath (2), Drain Life (2), Lightning Bolt, Poison Weapon, Shocking Grasp; Spells: None; Skills; None; High-Level Abilities: None
Dorn: NE Paladin (Black Guard of Ur-Gothoz/8 (HP 56); Armor: Black Swan Armor +2, Cloak of Protection +2, Golden Girdle (Girdle of Slashing +3); Weapons: Two-Handed Sword +3 (World’s Edge), **, Pole Axe +2 (Kilther)** (Two-Handed Weapon Style**, Axe**), Gauntlet of Weapons Expertise; Items: Boots of Valor (AC +4 vs Blunt), Ring of Fire Resistance (Batalista’s Passport); Special Abilities: Absorb Health, Aura of Despair, Poison Weapon (2); Spells: None; Skills; None; High-Level Abilities: None
Shar-teel: CE Fighter (Berserker)/7 (HP 60); Armor: Crystal Plate Mail +2, Ring of Protection +1 (Ring of the Princes), Kiel’s Helmet, Boots of Grounding (Tolos’s Gift), Elves Bane (Girdle of Piercing +3); Weapons: Long Sword +1/+2 vs Regenerators/+3 vs cold/+4 vs undead (Flame Tongue +1); ***, Long Sword +1/+3 vs undead (Harrower)***, Gauntlets of Weapons Expertise (Long Sword***, Dagger*, Two-Weapon Style**); Items: Ring of Free Action; Special Abilities: Berserkers Rage; Spells: None; Skills: None; High-Level Abilities: None
Vynd: NE Thief (Drow Assassin)/10 (HP 61 ); Armor: Improved Shadow Armor, Cloak of Protection +1, Gauntlets of Dexterity; Weapons: Short Sword +3 (Shadow Blade)*, Long Sword +1* , Darts of Stunning* (Dart*, Long Sword*, Short Sword*, Two-Weapon Style*); Items: Boots of Speed (Paws of the Cheetah); Special Abilities: Poison Weapon (2), Set Snare (2); Spells: None; Skills; OL 35, FT 25 PP 45, MS 105, HS 90, DI 10, ST 75, BS x 5; High-Level Abilities: None
Baeloth: CE Sorcerer/9 (HP 46); Armor: Robe of the Grand Wizard, Bracers of Defense AC6, Amulet of Protection +1, Cloak of Displacement, Crown of the Alarphon; Weapons: Quarter Staff +3 (Staff of Striking +3), Darts of Wounding*; Items: Ring (Barrityl’s Burden); Special Abilities: None; Spells: Greater Malison (4), Melf’s Meteors (6), Spell Thrust (6), Melf’s Acid Arrow (6), Magic Missile (6), Icelance (6), Detect Invisibility (6), Globe of Darkness (6), Horror (6), Blindness (6), Chromatic Orb (6), Expeditious Retreat (6), Spook (6), Ice Storm (4); Skills; None; High-Level Abilities: None
Vienxay: NE Mage/Thief (Shadowmage)//8/8 (HP 29); Armor: Robe of the Evil Arch-Magi, Cloak of Protection +1; Weapons: Dagger +4* (D’Raavhen’s Fang), Darts of Wounding*; Items: Courier’s Boots, Ring of Invisibility (Sandthief’s Ring), Mystic Ring, Vienxay’s Silk Gloves; Special Abilities: Shadowjump, Set Snare (2); Spells: Minor Sequencer, Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere, Stoneskin, Melf’s Minute Meteors, Haste, Lightning Bolt, Slow, Blur, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Mirror Image, Web, Magic Missile, Blindness, Charm Person, Chromatic Orb; Skills: OL 80, FT 70, PP 45, MS 85, HS 90, DI 15, ST --, BS x 2; High-Level Abilities: None
MOD USED: Convenient Enhanced Edition NPCs v4.0, Ajantis BG1 v15, NPC Aura BG1, BG1 NPC Project v24-8, BG1 Romantic Encounters V4, BGEE NPC Tweaks, BG Quests and Encounters v22, Brage’s Redemption v4, Tweaks Anthology Beta 4, Deities of Faerun v1.9.7.6.1, Distinguishable Clubs, Divine Remix v8 Beta, NPC Drake, Dark Side of the Sword Coast v102, NPC Emily BG1, NPC Finch v4.0 Beta 7, NPC Gavin V14, NPC Glam Pack v3, I Hate Undead Kitpack v3.8
Rumbal (male elf ranger, Gate70); Indy (male elf dragon disciple, Grond0)
It's an unusual start to our session as we scratch our heads. What were we doing? Indy may have struggled to make any coherence of our day as we lurched from one encounter to another without any clear plan emerging.
At an early point we encounter a vampire called Hareishan and set her straight.
Reporting the death of Mook is enough for Aran Linvail to want us to deal with a pair of deserters and their rival guild contact. Indy begrudgingly acquiesces saying that this is a trivial matter for us - and promptly spices it up by casting a web which firstly catches Rumbal and then Indy with Gravy Gracen taking a free hit or two at us as a result.
Our first lich is in the Temple district and is killed quickly. After a brief real-life break we head over to the City Gates and relieve a second lich of several wands and a ring before knocking a nearby container to retrieve a long sword. The third lich is in the Bridge district and that is a straightforward kill.
Neither of us have left the game screen and not perused our inventory so we check in with Kangaxx in the hope of him not seeing through our ruse.
He's not having it though, his buffs firing - so Indy uses a second scroll and Kangaxx once more ignores our passage - or more precisely, his passage. Indy has mentioned Kangaxx will be hard to put down with Usuno's Blade +4 so we risk the inventory and identify Daystar for use. Kangaxx remains unaware of us so a round or two later his fate is sealed.
Rumbal now works out that Indy could do with a bit of headgear and the obvious place is underneath the graveyard. It is here that Indy discovers he can Sunfire without breaking invisibility. For now we are unsure whether that is a multiplayer bug or a wider oversight (however we can rely on @Grond0 to mercilessly exploit this in single player should it occur there).
Lassal puts up a heck of a fight, going down in less than a round (get him on a pay per view channel).
Bodhi manages even better than Lassal, going without a fight. We are a bit perplexed, wondering if this is because Indy cast Improved Invisibility on Rumbal or if Rumbal managed to talk-click on Bodhi before she was hostile. Either way, it's a new one on us.
In one tomb Rumbal melees a pair of Shadow Fiends, having previously unequipped the arbane shortsword. (in my mind I assumed I was at risk of being held but hoping I'd mis-remembered and they level-drain and wondering if Grond0 was sighing at my recklessness and fully aware of my usual which of shadow fiend and wraith level drain and the other one holds). Rumbal gets away with it, today.
In another tomb Indy draws out Horror from the Crypt King then Rumbal arrives so we can defeat him.
This is how you deal with kidnappers by the way.
After finishing with the Graveyard we pick up an illithium alloy for Sir Sarles and take great pleasure in having him leave town unsatisfied.
Completing our good deed for the Temple of Helm has them admiring the smudged alloy sculpture and they want us to help out at the Lathander temple too. So after dark we make our way to meet a contact, only for another vampire ambush - she flees pre-combat and her two thieves suffer greatly.
Rumbal asks what to do next as the temple quests are done but Indy is non-committal. Rumbal is running dry of ideas but goes to the Bridge District to pick up the real illithium. As we arrive he is dismayed to see Indy collecting a reward from Lt Aegisfield. A brief discussion sees Rumbal think we have not visited the Rune Assassins and Indy think we have.
In the meantime we pick up the illithium. Rumbal is proud of himself, thinking Indy looks susceptible to acid-blob damage. He can see Indy limbering up to take his chance so grabs the trap first and is rewarded by what looks like a maximum damage, that would certainly have killed Indy.
Indy thinks otherwise, having fancied his chances with a mirror-image. Now we'll never know.
Rumbal doesn't check the container for Aegisfields body, and suspects Indy does not either.
(I've switched machines now but have a screenshot of traps in the middle level going off and Biff the Understudy as the tanner perishing in Cloudkill)
We have buffed though and as Rumbal defeats the pair of ghasts Indy takes on the first Rune Assassin. Rumbal moves towards the second but after a few seconds that Assassin is blinded by Indy so Rumbal breaks off and helps kill the first. As we defeat the second their bone golem reinforcement arrives but it is easy prey on it's own.
---
Uvweo on the other hand had been making good progress. He had done quite a few quests in the city followed by several in Trademeet and sufficient in Watchers Keep. This had been enough to obtain a Ring of Protection +2, the Ring of Gaxx, Daystar +2, Kondar +1 bastard sword, Foebane +3 bastard sword, the Shield of Harmony, the Belt of Inertial Barrier, Paladins Bracers, Improved Mace of Disruption and the Cloak of the Sewers. In other words he was becoming a bit of a problem to most enemies by level 15.
There was a minor blip against (yes him) Rayic Gethras who had used magic to kill the summoned efreeti and disintegrated Kitthix. Uvweo used a Gaxx Improved Haste to break for the stairs and after a few up and downs he finally managed to stop Rayic following him. Rayic didn't bother resting when Uvweo did and a new instance of the Efreeti was too hot for him to handle.
Uvweo continued to make good progress, and decided to return to Watchers Keep in search of the Purifier Bastard sword. The four remaining statues on the entry level did a good job on him but he kept his cool and used a small door to pick on three of them while their fourth golem was unable to help out.
On to the second level of Watchers Keep where Uvweo heads North after speaking to the Chromatic Demon. The desert trolls were a problem initially as Uvweo had no way to kill them. He summoned the efreeti which used an acid arrow on one troll but then he wildly sped to search a bookcase for something better.
It looked like the trolls had blocked Uvweo into a corner but there was one dust mephit and after killing that he thought he was free. No such luck and he was blocked in. This wasn't going to be a good way to face stalemate or defeat at the hands of unkillable enemies.
Then a Rukh in the midst of the trolls casts Death Fog and everybody bar Uvweo takes acid damage. Uvweo uses a Gaxx haste to drop as many trolls as he can so the acidic fog damage can kill them. It works and Uvweo memorises protection from electricity.
After speaking to an imp he twists a fan wheel and faces two lesser air elementals plus two greater air elementals and a Guardian of Air. They should be easy but after falling unconscious he takes a lot of damage and fortunately stands up while still alive so decides to fight them outside their room.
Once they are defeated he returns to their room, twists the wheel fan further and opens the next door. A group of kuo-toa are easy prey although he notes their strange (paralyzation?) crossbow bolts as he picks them up.
On to the green acid room. Uvweo is a bit wary of the snake within, thinking about how to avoid it's stun. He decides to risk it, and is stunned.
A round or so later he recovers. That wasn't so bad, so he risks it again. This time he is repeatedly stunned and fails to survive.
All in all, a miserable attempt at the second level of Watchers Keep.
- Ranged attacks. If the snake can't hit you, you don't get stunned.
- Chaotic Commands. Not an option for a solo non-priest.
- Sword of Arvoreen (Mazzy's sword). Restricted to halflings only, so not an option for a paladin.
- Turn into a troll or mustard jelly.
Looks like you should have used the Cloak of the Sewers.
In jelly form, you're immune to the snake's damage, but the snake is highly resistant to your damage (70% to crushing, immune to poison); you might need additional buffs to kill it before your transformation runs out.
In troll form, you deal plenty of damage (3 base APR, 1d10+strength piercing damage, enemy resistance 20%) but also risk taking some damage from the snake's attacks.
Wyrme grabs her golden pantaloons and equips herself from a nearby table and chest. The two dungeon levels throw up few scares, although the sewer golem got itself stuck on a door above the otyugh (meaning Wyrme could not rest or save until leaving the area and returning which reset the golem).
Careful positioning allowed the first two portals to be shut down without their mephit guardians attacking, and the later two fell to snares. After escaping the dungeon Wyrme headed into a circus tent and dealt with the illusions inside.
A brief journal check of events leading up to meeting Gaelan Bayle:
Followed by a short list of events afterward. By this time Wyrme has found the money to pay Gaelan Bayle and paid for a magic (snare) licence. The opening area of Watchers Keep has been completed, and she has decided to store spare items there instead of outside the Adventurers Mart:
With these done it is time to move on to more serious matters, details of which follow:
Suna Seni and her ambushers didn't survive a double-snare counterstrike.
A Rakshasa in the Temple district sewers failed to wait for a backstab and killed itself on a sequence of snares. A sea troll and otyugh each took a single backstab with Wyrme using an arrow of fire on the troll.
Renfeld was returned to the Harper Hold, leading to further tasks ending with Xzar being assassinated.
Mae'Var overstepped his mark once more and his series of little quests gave Wyrme plenty of time to lay down snares across two floors of the building and ensure an easy victory.
Wyrme decided to go for the Ring of Gaxx relatively early, purchasing a scroll of protection from undead and consuming two oils of speed.
Sir Sarles was fobbed off with an illithium alloy and left town. The real illithium is safely stored in Watchers Keep if you fancy trying to get it for yourself. As for Neb, well he took a backstab and then ran into a couple of plan-ahead snares.
Borinall failed to hang on to the Lathander Dawn Ring, and Wyrme sold his fabled tabled war hammer +1 on the way back.
The Fallen Paladins have been sorted out, although while Anarg fought and lost to Wyrme his companions decided to gang up on Reynaud de Chatillon even though he had not turned on them. Wyrme used corners of buildings to backstab them one at a time.
The Copper Coronet gladiators and the nearby Slaver Ship have been dealt with. Wyrme returned to the Temple sewers and outfought Tarnor the Hatchetman and his allies. Then she had to deal with an imp that she'd talked to the freshly-deceased Mekrath about.
Wyrme had previously worked out options on entering the Planar Prison, and had put them on hold a couple of times (see opening comment about caution). Eventually though she forgot about that and ran to the right after entering invisible and with Arbane Haste active.
The trio of thralls were easily dealt with, and Wyrme just waited out two True Sight incantations before returning to Aawil and party. A safe entry.
Now she realised getting in was the easy part. A bit of to and fro saw her dealing with the next group of yuan-to before getting to grips with them.
The clock is ticking so she gulps two potions of Magic Shielding (thanks to @Corey_Russell for mentioning on Saturday that Roger the fence has three) and an oil of speed with a potion of power too. Then Draw Upon Holy Might and Gaxx haste to attack the Master of Thralls. This works well, and Wyrme thinks about how to finish the area with the potions still active.
After Kitthix and the berserk warrior die the elemental is still going and we have retreated to the right. The Warden has sent in a decoy Warden so Wyrme backstabs him until gone and then hones in on the real Warden. She has no time to do anything though as a group of Yuan-Ti mages all skulltrap.
Ouch.
Ouch.
That must have hurt thought Wyrme as the Warden collapses, while two Magic Shielding potions protect her. She remains in place as the Yuan-Ti either side continue to skulltrap, cast Lightning and Magic Missiles. She finishes off a Skeleton Warrior then the potions expire but by this time she is happy to melee the Yuan-Ti without any danger.
After setting Haer'Dalis and his troupe free Wyrme makes it home in time to pay her guild fee.
Rumbal (male elf ranger, Gate70); Indy (male elf dragon disciple, Grond0)
The one where you don't do Multiplayer like that
Rumbal and Indy face their usual dilemma of what were we doing. Our starting location gives a minor clue and we decide we must have handed Neb's remains (his head basically) in.
(& looking back I'm not sure how we started outside the Government building when the last writeup suggests being outside the Bridge district tanners. It's a mystery)
Rumbal decides to visit Trademeet but we are ambushed and Indy manages to avoid a lightning bolt that bounces off the countryside and takes out their mage caster.
The pair of djinn inside are killed off with Kitthix becoming petrified, and then we are shopping. Rumbal tries first but the merchant doesn't like the look of him but before it gets mutual Indy enters the store.
Rumbal takes the opportunity to visit the druid grove and Indy learns new stuff in a troll mound. We pretend it's a level but the truth is that Rumbal ran round badly wounded at one point until Indy finished off a couple of nasty trolls.
We hardly pause for breath before moving on to Umar Hills and some temple ruins. Indy wants to buy swords and booze for the local kids but Rumbal is aware of his ranger status and says no.
In the ruins we find plenty of undead to antagonise.
(we may have now taken too long as we got sidetracked a bit further on)
We headed back into town to store unwanted gear and spotted a couple of loiterers outside the circus. Maybe we should do that - and how easy it was with level 13 characters and an Improved Mace of Disruption.
Reminder: The one where you don't do Multiplayer like that
So we go inside and create some havoc, before the halflings add in some carnage. Indy got caught in a chaos area-effect cast at one of our summons, and a True Sight removed his invisibility.
This naturally led to him taking a few spells and although the enemies were defeated within a couple of rounds Indy was low on hit points, confused and subjected to one or more Melf's Acid Arrows.
Not to worry, Rumbal darted in and cast Cure Light Wounds. He decided to dart out, and dart back to cast a second - meaning he would minimise risk of being hit and disrupted by Indy.
Rumbal came back too late though and Indy was dead. He was duly reminded how unlikely it was that Indy would manage to hit Rumbal...
@grond0 was silent at this point while I was thinking we don't have the Rod of Resurrection and a rapid check of the scroll case confirmed we had no Raise Dead scrolls either.
So in less than the time it took us to say "Hey the upgraded Paladins Blessed Bracers can cast Resurrection" (we said it but no it took a lot lot longer than saying that and no mention of us not being able to use those bracers or even get them upgraded ho hum) Rumbal
- Dumps a load of equipment on the table near the Knights of Solemnia
- Soloed the golems (they hit hard and he had to run and rest once)
- Killed the Knights of Solmenia after they object to being in efreeti fireball range with a golem
- Faced down a Finger of Death trap (used our only potion of invulnerability thinking that's unfortunate would have been handy to have that when facing a demon)
- Stood by the door while summons were fodder to Lavok, then emerged to kill him
- Went outside to find a demon heart. Let's expand this one:
- Bravely sent his minions to fight Tolgerias
- Ran away when his minions died
- Rested and sent his minions in again
- Heroically HEROICALLY I SAY shot an arrow at Tolgerias
- Watches as the berserk warrior killed Tolgerias before the arrow arrived
- Sneaks through the fire chamber and up to the engine room
- Feeds the heart into the engine and sneaks back to Lavok
- Goes and gets Indy raised, and return to the table to pick up his gear
That was a long time (30 minutes maybe, could be longer) of one of us watching the other while dead, something we try to avoid. Clearly we need to go pick up a rod, will we remember next time. No you say?
Note the spirit armor icon on Rumbal's portrait
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1142354/#Comment_1142354
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1142571/#Comment_1142571
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1143220/#Comment_1143220
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1143383/#Comment_1143383
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1146433/#Comment_1146433
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1146731/#Comment_1146731
At the Underground River I used a dart to stun the cyclops and was able to finish that off before too many attackers could arrive - allowing me to go invisible and run underground. There I placed the Bwoosh before mis-clicking on the conversation with Turin - meaning I had to fight there rather than convincing him to let me inside. I poisoned the food and water before showing myself to Hephernaan to reopen the lift and run away.
Back at the Camp the invaders were mainly dealt with using exploding arrows and I moved on to the Castle. A one-to-one fight there was decided almost instantly by a single stunning dart and I was able to enter the Castle. After following Caelar through the portal I just ran through the first area before using exploding arrows to clear out enemies in the second area. Thrix provided me with a sword upgrade.
I'd got another level there so took that before buffing to go up in the Hellevator - summons helped make short work of the enemies there.
I recruited Caelar and started the fight, but almost immediately hit a problem. Normally I've used alternative buffing for the lift and then taken a magic shielding potion on arrival. This time I'd used that potion at the bottom of the lift and had mistakenly thought it still had time to run. As a result I was sent running in fear. My rules for Caelar allow her to be recruited, as I think it makes sense she should fight Belhifet (that's after all why she followed Hephernaan into hell). If you have a full party then Caelar will fight him independently, but otherwise she joins the party. I therefore allow the joining, but don't give her any orders to duplicate the effect of her fighting independently. That meant she was an easy victim for Belhifet while I was scared and unable to use restoration scrolls on her.
If I'd been prepared it wouldn't have been difficult to fight Belhifet - but I wasn't. I didn't have full plate armor, the golden girdle or the +2 amulet, which made me far more vulnerable in a stand-up fight and was also lacking the violet potion which would have greatly improved my attacks. The red ioun stone would also have been nice to have to improve my chances in a hit and run battle.
Even without the initiative bonus from the ioun stone though, I could still get plenty of unopposed attacks in on Belhifet and found it relatively easy to wear him down enough for him to resort to improved invisibility. That meant though that I needed a 19 to hit him and I struggled for a while to make any real progress against his regeneration. However, I did then hit a lucky streak with several criticals in fairly quick succession to prompt him to start summoning allies. That allowed me to switch to exploding arrows - even though those can't hurt Belhifet directly, the blast effect still damages him if the arrows are targeted on something that can be hit.
Things were progressing nicely with big B under 150 HPs. My target was to get him down to 100 when I planned to switch to melee relying on the half dozen stoneskin scrolls I had, along with blue fire shield to get him to kill himself while I used invisibility potions to avoid his summons attacking (I also had the bard bagpipes that ignored magic resistance and could do a bit of damage to help out if necessary). I hit another snag though when a Hamatula got close enough for its barbed defense to activate from an explosion - and that entangled me.
The use of exploding arrows hit another snag at this point, as Belhifet summoned 3 cornugons in a row. They couldn't be hit by my arrows, so things were not looking good as Belhifet seemed to be regenerating faster that I was damaging him and my options were reducing. It therefore probably just put me out of my misery when another magic shielding potion ran out and I ran in terror once more. While the chance of Belhifet on his own hitting a hasted character running around is pretty small, 3 cornugons teleporting around as well hugely increase the chance of trouble - and that duly came ...
Rumbal (male elf ranger, Gate70); Indy (male elf dragon disciple, Grond0)
We make our way out of the Planar Sphere and head to the Copper Coronet for a rest. Lehtinan is still present so our first task after resting is to release Hendak. At one point Indy is trying to hit a black bear with either his sling bullets or Minute Meteors - until Rumbal suggests using his head.
Then we set off for the De Arnise Keep and set about the grim work of destroying trolls and yuan-ti. Indy demonstrates the proper way to deal with the yuan-ti mage spell turning, bouncing four Minute Meteors off it and onto himself before applying further meteors directly onto the yuan-ti.
A group of golems are bashed apart, with Rumbal taking significant damage. Against the iron golem Indy studiously lowers it's magic resistance and having done a lot of prep work he casts Feeblemind just as Rumbal kills it. Rumbal is quite observant at this point, noting Indy grumbling away.
Indy is perhaps considering this too much and after dropping off the food he fails to retreat quite far enough and is targeted with confusion. Rumbal steps in and kills the attacking umber hulk then stands next to Indy until he recovers his demeanor and Death spells them.
We return to Umar where the mayor says we should expect a long drawn out combat against Orogs. Have you seen my Death spell says Indy.
Next we study our map and make for Windspear Hills where we errantly kill some paladins and return acorns so the nymphs we encountered in the chateau are finally free.
Inside the Windspear temple Rumbal is level-drained by a vampiric mist while in his inventory. Indy uses a scroll of lesser restoration while another vampiric mist homes in. Rumbal is ready this time and uses his mace on it - followed by perhaps six more as a steady stream of mists make their way to us. Once the mists stop pestering us we make steady progress until encountering an Adamantite golem. Rumbal notices Indy is lowering it's resistances so assumes he should leave it for feeblemind but after two castings of that are saved against he instead blinds it so Rumbal moves into melee.
Indy is almost inconsolable about the lack of feeblemind success, but at least he can rely on Death spell.
After a bit of a regroup we have a summon in place so target with bow and spells. Indy wants to finish with a Sunfire but he is a moment too late.
Rumbal (male elf ranger, Gate70); Indy (male elf dragon disciple, Grond0)
At the end of this session I saved into MP209 5 and told Grond0 we must have had 2 goes in BG:EE and 3 in BGII:EE, forgetting the 5 is for BGII:EE alone. Anyway we push on through the Windspear Hills temple;
Rumbal once more demonstrated his relatively light armour class and lack of easily-available healing potions, just able to outlast a pair of greater werewolves once one is stunned by Indy.
Rumbal kills a werewolf before a Death spell lands, and the greater werewolf with it is immune. It doesn't last too long against us though and the next two werewolves fall to another Death spell.
Firkraag isn't fussed about this so Indy casts it thrice more and then applies a Feeblemind - so we set about the dragon with him unaware that bits are falling off him. This is safe for us but ultimately the thrill of near-certain maiming was missing.
The Alhoon was soon dealt with by Indy circling it, and Rumbal using a Gaxx haste to shoot down the mirror images and then continuing until it was dead.
Indy then went exploring and paid the price by getting himself dominated. Rumbal was able to slip into the shadows again and after confirming the illithid weren't brain-hungry enough to slurp Indy he waited for Indy to recover.
Rumbal mentioned that we had rested and so the spirit armour buff had worn off.
We are a long way into the session when we remember something about a Rod of Resurrection. Yes, it may take us far longer than intended but we do get there eventually. Now we have the rod we ought to see about finishing the Unseeing Eye quest.
Our plan here is that we'll deal with any beholders from a distance and that is more or less how it plays out - Indy taking the odd minor risk and Rumbal nipping in for the killing blow here and there so Indy isn't wasting an entire spell on single near-dead enemies. Towards the end we grew a bit more reckless and Rumbal killed one Beholder before Indy could join in.
Siri - male, elf enchanter (Grond0)
Kencore - male, half-orc kensai (Corey_Russell)
Thwaka - female, half-orc assassin (Gate70)
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1141650/#Comment_1141650
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1142638/#Comment_1142638
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1143640/#Comment_1143640
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1144427/#Comment_1144427
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1145854/#Comment_1145854
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1146514/#Comment_1146514
Today's session included a number of close shaves - building up to a final encounter where the razor slipped a touch too far ...
The starting position was in the Temple sewers and Tarnor and his party were temptingly near. An opening skull trap by Indy was followed up with slow and emotion - by which time most of the opponents were dead. Gaius though was still fighting on and Kencore had to save against a finger of death before Thwaka found a hole in the mage's stoneskin.
Indy then decided to get rid of the decomposing corpse in his backpack, so led the way to the Planar Sphere. The halflings there were easy enough, but the 2 mages later on caused more problems. First Thwaka was confused when trying for a backstab and stayed stuck in place while more spells hit - and then was held by Necre (initially I assumed that was the result of using his stiletto, which has a hold ability, but a review of the screenshots suggests he was actually using ghoul touch). With Thwaka about to die, Siri nipped in to try and save him with an invisibility - but was promptly held as well. He had just enough HPs in hand to survive though while Kencore finished off the opponents.
The fire room almost saw the end of the run. Siri had been congratulating himself when his emotion had sent both the noble efreeti and the greater elemental unconscious. That tempted him to move into the room, but the efreeti caught him out by casting a scorcher at him despite remaining unconscious - and suddenly Siri was grimly hanging on to his last HP. A quick transfer of the rod of resurrection allowed Thwaka to restore his HPs before any more damage could strike.
With one planar adventure narrowly survived, Siri pushed his luck by immediately setting out to find another. A mugger on the way saw the potential for a big gain, but ended up being totally wrong about who would regret the encounter
The entrance to the Planar Prison took place with everyone invisible and hasted. Thwaka did a good job to backstab the mage before he could complete a true sight.
That just left the Warden and he was quickly under pressure from Kencore - who was once more under improved invisibility. With the others joining the attack the odds looked good for another quick win, but things started going wrong when Thwaka was confused and attacked Siri. That led to the latter running away and meant Kencore was delayed in dealing with a few umber hulks and working through the Warden's protections. As a result his invisibility ran out (I did wonder if there was a true sight that I missed while running away from Thwaka, but reviewing the video record of the encounter confirms there wasn't) and his half-orc saving throws were not sufficient to protect him from a flesh to stone spell. That meant we had no visibility of the area, but initially we expected to see a heroic bust of Kencore when Thwaka recovered and sneaked forward. Regrettably though there was nothing there and a close review of the battle text showed why - Kencore had attacked between the petrification spell being cast and it affecting him and the backlash from the Warden's fire shield had then destroyed the statue (the text saying Siri: death is another MP quirk).
Loury - male, human undead hunter (Gate70)
Swish - male, dwarf swashbuckler (Grond0)
Corecleric - male, halfling priest of Lathander (Corey_Russell)
We rolled three more characters up without conferring. Loury waited in the lobby for a while until he heard and then saw Corecleric arrive. Swish joined us and then we were off.
The Candlekeep chores don't take long to do when split three ways and we had maybe 20 minutes to make our mark on the Sword coast. After recruiting and booting Imoen + Xzar + Montaron we deal with Shoal the nereid which nets levels for Swish and Corecleric.
Our gear at the end of the session - Swish having been given hand-me-down leather armour (from Montaron to Loury to Swish) as the screenshots are taken. Loury is meanwhile stretching the armour he retrieved from Karlat.
Here is an update of what I have done since my return (Not much)
I cleared Razemith's Tower and killed Razemith.
I got the necklace of missiles from Nadine and found the Helm and Cloak of Balduran.
They say your life flashes before your eyes in times of extreme danger and that might explain matters. Everything had been going to plan, until it hadn't.
An earlier image flickered in front of her eyes. Ah, the sewer golem pretending to be foiled by a few steps and an open door. That seemed like such a long time ago now, although it was only 90 days or so.
There was a large gap in her memory, and the rest of her previous adventurers were lost to her unless previously documented. A host of new memories had taken their place though. She thought hard about what she had done and realised nothing was recorded after returning from the Planar Prison. That was two chapters and fifty six days ago.
Her journal had suggested a trip to Umar Hills where she had recorded paying 100gp for a chicken. With a little more thought she remembered the host of undead, including liches. To her surprise none of the undead could resist the latest of her special snares and even the liches became mazed, albeit only for one round - enough to add another snare and make them easy prey.
A shadow dragon had taken a minor backstab for about 12 damage and promptly failed to survive six normal snares. A shade lord took another backstab and a Daystar Sunray - that also killed his companions leaving the Shadow Altar to await a single sunstone bullet. The people of Umar were overjoyed to have this threat removed, and even more overjoyed when Wyrme sold loot to them and moved on.
What was next in the journal - something about Rejiek Hidesman. Wyrme could not remember exactly when she ventured to the tannery basement other than a long time after finding who the guilty party was. She had killed two ghasts and one assassin there when a second assassin and a bone golem appeared - they too were safely despatched.
The remaining work for Aran Linvail also showed as completed, a significant time lag there suggested Wyrme may have waited for her first High Level Ability and Use Any Item allows for the Amulet of Power to be worn. Assuming this was the case there wasn't much of concern noted here so matters must have proceeded smoothly.
Open quests in chapter 3 are for the cult of the eyeless, the De Arnise keep, Windspear Hills, the Planar Sphere, and something about finishing leather armour.
What clues could Wyrme obtain from chapter 4 of her journal. This all seemed to be about Brynnlaw and Spellhold. The trip to Brynnlaw itself was uneventful but a trio of vampires awaited her arrival, only to be backstabbed in turn.
Ginia and her brother were helped to leave Brynnlaw, while Perth the Adept relinquished his grip on a wardstone, a magical book of infinite spells, and his life. Wyrme casually flicked through the magical book with increasing interest. She ignored the fireball page, skipped over the Farsight page, ignored Invisibility, and found the last page contained Burning Hands. Oh well, it might be useful.
The administrator at Spellhold seemed to be expecting Wyrme. She duly followed him for the brief guided tour, the conclusion of which was where he revealed his true identity as Irenicus and that he had managed to interfere with something Wyrme ate. She slumped unconscious and awoke as one of many thieves in a jar. Her fate was less gruesome than that of the other thieves as she took her chance to backstab the dreamy Bhaal presence and return to the jar minus her Bhaalspawn special abilities.
Clap clap. Well done indeed said Irenicus. Now go play cat and mouse with Bodhi and her vampires.
Wyrme was unphased by this, and worked her way around the Spellhold Maze. After encountering a lich she used a snare and then taunted it with Daystar as various spells bounced off her dwarven saving throws.
With the gauth taking lesser damage and dishing out magical damage of it's own, Wyrme retreats and sends in the efreeti. She returns for another abortive backstab but the efreeti has ended combat before she is in place.
Bodhi and her vampires observe a first Slayer form and decide to leave, so Wyrme is free to exit. Saemon Havarian decides to make up for allowing Wyrme to consume a tainted meal earlier by suggesting a means to leave Brynnlaw. Since this involves stealing something from the Pirate Lord Wyrme is unable to resist and we set sail.
Our ship is subsequently attacked and Wyrme finds herself in the City of Caverns where a Sahuagin King convinces himself that Wyrme is the saviour of their kingdom. Why yes I am states Wyrme.
The assertion has to be proved though, by combat with an ettin. Wyrme realises even with two heads it cannot see behind a pillar at the arena edge and she can run around the wall to hide. A few backstabs are enough to defeat it and Wyrme is given a task to kill a Sahuagin Prince.
Shortly after this she is given a task to talk to the Prince, and he in turn gives her a task to kill the King. This is all getting a bit complicated so Wyrme kills the king and the prince before looting their treasury and heading into the Underdark where everything gets more complicated.
A lone mind flayer is nearby, one backstab panics it and a second hit kills it. Wyrme finds her way to a nearby store and purchases a Freedom scroll. With Use Any Item she is able to cast it and release a mage - he wants a book retrieved so Wyrme agrees to see if she can do this.
While looking for the book Wyrme is distracted and agrees to deal with something that has been dug up. She sets a few snares, and finds she should have set more. After turning to retreat she changes her mind and swings her staff of Rhynn +4 instead. Success.
This is all going terribly well thinks Wyrme. She even plans ahead a little, setting some snares in what looks like an obvious ambush place. She chuckles to herself and moves north, setting another snare at the foot of a bridge - that should be plenty.
A drow war party teleport in and Wyrme goes for a backstab. Afterwards she realises she has wrongfooted herself and is stuck on the bridge with attackers either side.
She pummels away at one drow but they are starting to get the upper hand. She gulps an extra healing potion (probably the first since picking up the Ring of Gaxx) and a round or so later uses the staff of Air to summon an Air elemental. Things are steadily going downhill so she gulps a potion of thief frost giant strength (from thief potions HLA), a potion of regeneration (no observed icon or effect possibly due to already wearing ring of Gaxx) and then the supreme ignomy of three potions of Superior healing (picked up 5 in Watchers Keep) followed by a potion of power (picked up 4 in the druid grove).
It's a grim combat alright but eventually two drow are removed and after nudging the Air Elemental out of the way just before it dies Wyrme can run. She turns and runs the other way as she doesn't want these drow to run into the previously set snares. Although badly wounded she is recovering and the freedom to move means her backstabs can come back into play.
Wyrme tries to engage them one at a time but they recognise this approach and an entire group converge. Wyrme finds herself wishing for a damaging area attack, and the only one she can think of (Daystar Sunray) proves to be both damaging and blinding.
The narrator can go away for a bit. Shoo. Shoo
Rumbal (male elf ranger, Gate70); Indy (male elf dragon disciple, Grond0)
Rumbal and Indy soon establish they have a rod assembled and are stood near to where they will encounter the Unseeing Eye. It's clear what we must do.
First, Indy must wonder why Rumbal is standing idle as Cerebus and Indy are treated to Wilts.
Rumbal checks with Indy whether we are ready to investigate the Planar Prison. We have no half-orcs in our party so yes we are ready. One of their casters fails to complete his detect invisibility spell.
The Warden is killed as a buffed Rumbal is in melee and Indy is dropping spells from a safe distance. His remaining yuan-ti are no threat either.
We empty our backpacks of component items and add a few useful items, and then return to Aran Linvail to set off for Brynnlaw. Rumbal maces two awaiting vampires as Indy Wilts the survivor then we quickly secure passage for Ginia and brother before triple-skulltraping Perth the Adept.
Indy Death spells various shadows on our way into Spellhold, and once we are released into a maze by Irenicus Indy Death spells two groups of umber hulks and various other critters. Rumbal's main task is to operate as a collection-point for the spells to focus towards.
A lich proves problematic for Indy's spells and after a bit of to and fro Rumbal has had enough and uses a whirlwind mace attack to end the impasse. Lassal is also maced and after we hunt for a suitable stake we finish him off.
Indy at this point asks Rumbal to stop passing him unidentified arrows and bolts as most of them are +1's and our lack of lore means we have to stoop to using identify at the expense of Indy's level 1 spells. Rumbal reluctantly agrees (although after the end of the session he empties his missile container and gets this lot identified).
Rumbal is expecting spore colonies and myconids to be added to the Death spell tally but Indy opts for a Wilt which is entirely effective. This leaves a Death spell free to kill three trolls that were guarding an altar, and we place one troll head into the altar to exchange it for a club that will be perma-bagged.
Irenicus is treated to a part round of Whirlwind before Rumbal departs and Indy applies a Wilt. Then Wanev casts Time Stop. The battle is over but Irenicus will concede defeat when he feels like it.
Rumbal is by now at level 20, Indy level 19 and our inventory is looking decent. Rumbal is somewhat bemused to see Indy preferring the Pixie Prick dagger to the Staff of the Magi but is soon told how effective the sleep ability of the dagger is. He should consider himself lucky not to receive a first-hand demonstration.
The advice taken allows her to obtain an elder orb eye stalk (Grond0 asking if Wyrme had the shield of Balduran and throwing a maze trap before laying further snares for when it returns.
With that successfully done she completes the tasks in Ust Natha and after the Matron Mother and Phaere are killed she leaves with the dragon eggs.
Then she lays snares some distance from the silver dragon, inching closer with each snare. Eventually she realises the dragon will not go hostile (so I was wrong and Grond0 was right).
Attacking Adalon sees her use a breath weapon and cone of cold as three snares fire. Wyrme is unable to coax the dragon into the four furthest snares despite offering herself as bait and then using Kitthix, the berserk warrior, the efreeti, an air elemental, and the flesh golem.
Wyrme tries a few more times, taking some damage as either the breath or more usually the cone hits.
She tries a Maze trap and Adalon disappears. Wyrme just has time to set two snares before the dragon returns. Repeating this a couple of times sees one snare set each time, but Adalon heals herself twice. Wyrme considers resting to continue with more snares but instead decides to see what else she can devise.
Fudging in her containers she removes her Cloak of the Sewers and equips the Cloak of Mirroring. A few more feints cause about 60 damage each so Wyrme feels comfortable continuing with this.
Three or four more attempts later and Wyrme dies from almost full health, presumably having failed a saving throw and taking full damage.
(& a brief check confirms seven close snares would have killed Adalon immediately. Why don't I ever listen!)
Welcome back. Your absence was noted.
before visiting the Iron Throne, I decided to visit Durlag's Tower. I cleared all the upper area and got as far as all but finishing the warder quest. Since I haven't yet got the runestones from Ulgoth's I decided to return to the Gate and finish my quests there.
I'm no longer a moderator, so I can't add @histamiini's paladin couple LoB run to the Hall since I can't edit other forumites' posts anymore. I've already reached out to a member of the team. Congratulations!
I have started vanilla BG1 again 3 times, but I wanted to try and reduce the number of party deaths in another run - and was aiming to avoid any party deaths in BG1 (and have failed at that so far). I should be able to manage that eventually though I hope ...
Lord Vanderley the Cavalier: @histamiini
Notable mods: SCS v33.3, Ascension v2.0.12, LoB Saving Throw Fix
Difficulty: Legacy of Bhaal
Special: Duo Run, v2.5 update (-11 AC in LoB mode)
SoD: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1140634/#Comment_1140634
BG2 part 1: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1141004/#Comment_1141004
BG2 part 2: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1141827/#Comment_1141827
ToB part 1: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1142134/#Comment_1142134
ToB Part 2: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1145547/#Comment_1145547
ToB Part 3: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1145974/#Comment_1145974
Rumbal (male elf ranger, Gate70); Indy (male elf dragon disciple, Grond0)
Having escaped from Spellhold we invisibly run past a group of lizard men and back to Brynnlaw. Saemon Havarian hatches a plan to help us escape, which naturally involves him acquiring a ship. Rumbal seems happy to play pirates but Indy decides a Death spell should be used.
There we release an imprisoned mage, and the swirf child. Rumbal feels like picking up an elder orb eyestalk in case we need one later so we race invisibly past it and gird ourselves.
Indy is spotted by it though (multiplayer positioning as he tries to cast a spell) so we retreat a bit into sight of some drow fighting a beholder. Once that beholder dies we kill off the drow so we have a bit of room to manouvre.
So without the gem we were stuck, unable to get to the dragon, unable to enter the drow city and unable to reach the underdark exit. There was only one thing for us to do, and that was not to use the console. Instead we would roll up another pair of adventurers who wouldn't be so daft.
Scenic (female elf sorcerer, Grond0); Drudge (female half-elf druid, Gate70)
Previous run
A new run was kicked off by the usual random choice of characters intended to ensure variety in game play - though my previous dragon disciple was replaced by a sorcerer (reminding me of the way Apple made their ipod shuffle song selection less random to avoid any apparent patterns appearing)
After leaving Candlekeep and fertilising the Crossroads with a few NPC bodies, we ignored the easy level from Shoal for once and went straight to Beregost. Then it was on to Nashkel, where an attractive set of green armor matched Drudge's eyes. Not content with that she demanded a weapon upgrade as well, so we made a quick trip to some nearby tombs to pick up a free +2 dagger from Hentold.
The Carnival had supplied a PfP scroll, so we moved on to the basilisk area to look for some easy XP. That didn't seem quite so easy while a greater basilisk was attempting to melee Drudge while we were still at 1st level. Three attempts at blinding it failed, but eventually it switched back to its gaze attack and Drudge was able to stick her bootdagger in. With the basilisks all dead, Drudge was up to level 5 and Scenic level 4. That meant Scenic could chuck 3 webs at Mutamin, which briefly held him. When he broke free he was looking for revenge, but that was put on hold when lightning slashed down from the sky through his mirrors.
Kirian's party don't have the same good saves and were all held in place by webs while being blinded to allow for easy disposal.
Durlag's Tower was nearby and looked like a good source for some more quick XP. The first battle horror there was doomed and blinded before being subjected to lightning and magic missiles. Scenic had a rest in mind before the second, but Drudge was made of sterner stuff and pressed the attack even after the battle horror resisted Scenic's only remaining blind. Doom meant the battle horror initially needed a critical to hit and only landed a single blow while Scenic emptied nearly all of Imoen's magic missile wand at it.
Inside the tower Scenic made a mistake by trying to shoot the ghast guarding the exit onto the roof. As that moves to attack, it tends to break line of sight - meaning an attacker moves towards it. While that was hardly a surprise, Scenic was slow to move and was hit by the ghast - but fortunately saved to prolong the run a bit further. Drudge looked scornfully on at her partner's antics and decided to show her how it should be done - duly getting held herself when moving into melee range
On the roof, Scenic webbed a lesser basilisk and attempted to blind it, but without success. A doppleganger nearby saw what was happening and caused Scenic to run around a bit before going invisible again. Her movement had led the basilisk to move next to the door and there was just room at the edge of the roof for Scenic to get out of sight - or so she thought
On the upper roof there were more webs and blindness to deal with the 3 greater basilisks, getting Drudge up to level 7. Back inside, Riggilo was initially grateful to receive a lock of hair - only to find that was restricting his movement. That was only the start of his trouble with the ladies though. Drudge doomed him, Scenic blinded him and then a first outing for a nymph held him. Not content with mere killing though the nymph demonstrated her abilities as a dominatrix before he finally received a mercy stroke.
Sorcerer 5, 26 HPs, 33 kills
Druid 7, 57 HPs, 26 kills, 0 deaths
Angmar’s head was pounding. As he struggled to get his bearings, he heard a voice that only served to make it worse. He felt like he was coming out of a deep sleep, a dream, and had no idea where he was. He felt a twinge of fear. “What’s going on? Where am I?” Then he heard the voice again and it started to sound familiar. It sounded like Imoen. He had not seen her since he replaced her in Beregost, years ago it seemed. But there the voice was again. Struggling to get his bearings he heard, “Wake up you.” It was Imoen but how did she get here? And where was here?
Putting his aching head body aside, he set his mind on escaping. He did not know why Imoen was there but did not have time to worry about that now. After he got moving and started battling his way out, he forgot his pain and focused on the task at hand. The only time he felt it was when they rested and his muscles tightened up. He had scars that he did not have when he destroyed Sarevok but he also had no memory beyond that incident and did not know where he had gotten them.
The escape route blocked by numerous Mephits, Duerger’s, Assassins, a Cambion, a Vampiress. He noted that Imoen’s skills were vastly improved. He did not ask, but she had apparently been busy adventuring since he released her from his service. For now, he needed her. Along the way, he was joined by a Rogue from Kara-Tur, Yoshimo; released a Half-Elven Sorcerer, Adrian, from chains; and met a Drow Fighter, Yasraena, as he was leaving the complex. Escaping the tunnels into the light, he found himself amid a battle between his captor and several rogues. Before he could think to strike his tormentor though, both his captor and Imoen were taken by a group of wizards that he later learned were called, Cowled Wizards. In the aftermath of the battle, he added a Blademaster, Calin to his side. For now, he wanted people around him – he would sort them out later.
DESTROYING HIS FIRST VAMPIRESS
He knew now that he was in Amn, Athkatla to be precise. He was approached by a rogue who promised he could help Angmar find the mage Irenicus. It would cost 20,000 GP, but it was worth it to exact his revenge.
ORDER OF MARCH:
Imoen (Rogue skills)
Yoshimo (Rogue Skills)
Angmar
Adrian (Arcane Magic)
MONSTERS DEFEATED (ordered alphabetically by value): Ulvaryl (Vampiress @ 8000 @ CI); Cambion (6000 @ CI); Mephit Portals (4 @ 5000 @ CI) ; Frennedan (Greater Doppleganger @ 3000 @ CI); Lesser Clay Golems (2 @ 2000 @ CI); Escapped Close (1250 @ CI); Assassin (1000 @ CI) ; Assassin (2 @ 750 @ CI) ; Otyugh (650 @ CI); Deurger Mage (2 @ 620 @ CI); Deurger Ilyich (520 @ CI); Deurgers (7 @ 420 @ CI); Dust Mephit (420 @ CI); Ice Mephits (4 @ 420 @ CI); Lightning Mephit (420 @ CI); Mineral Mephits (4 @ 420 @ CI); Magma Mephits (2 @ 420 @ CI) ; Mist Mephits (5 @ 420 @ CI); Radiant Mephits (3 @ 420 @ CI); Salt Mephits (2 @ 420 @ CI) ; Smoke Mephits (2 @ 420 @ CI); Shadow Thief Battlemage (270 @ CI) ; Goblins (45 @ 20 @ CI)
* Legend: CI = Chateau Irenicus, DS = Disturb Sleep, RE = Random Encounter,
LEVEL UP: Imoen, Thief (Swashbuckler)/11; Angmar, Paladin (Black Guard)/9
CASUALTIES: None
NOTEWORTHY TREASURE (ordered alphabetically by value > 250gp or > +2 ): (Gold collected by chapter I = 1267; current purse = 1267)
Armor & Weapons: Bracers of Defense AC8, Girdle of Bluntness, Gloves of Missile Snaring, Chain Mail ?, Long Sword ?,
Gems/jewelry: None of note
Potions: Extra Healing (14)
Scrolls: Fireball, Dispel Magic
Wands: Cloudkill, Frost, Monster Summoning, Wand ?, Wand ?,
Misc & Artifacts: None of Note
BEST KILL:
Yoshimo, Mephit Portal (5000)
CURRENT DISPOSITION:
NEXT STEPS: Graveyard District
PARTY MAKEUP[/b[: (Reputation:8 - Disliked)
Angmar: CE Paladin (Black Guard of Talos)/Lvl 9 (HP 92); Armor: Splint Mail, Ring of Protection +1 (Ring of the Princes), Girdle of Bluntness; Weapons: Spear (Spear**, Flail**, Two-Handed Weapon Style**); Items: None; Special Abilities: Absorb Health, Aura of Dispair, Cause Affliction (2), Divine Wrath (2), Drain Life (2), Poison Weapon (2), Storm Shield, Lightning Bolt; High-Level Abilities: None; Spells: Command
Calin: NG Fighter (Blade Master)/Lvl 9 (HP 72); Armor: Leather, Bracers of Defense AC6; Weapons: Long Sword (Long Sword***); Items: None; Special Abilities: None; High-Level Abilities: None; Spells: None
Yasraena: CG Fighter/Lvl 9 (HP 63); Armor: Chain Mail +1; Weapons: Short Sword +1 (Fireflower), Short Sword +1 (Ironkiss) Short Sword +1 (Fireflower) (Short Sword****, Two-Weapon Style**); Items: None; Special Abilities: None; High-Level Abilities: None; Spells: None
Yoshimo: TN Thief (Bounty Hunter)/Lvl 11 (HP 65); Armor: Leather; Weapons: Short Bow, Yoshimo’s Katana +1 (Katana/Wakazashi*, Scimitar*, Short Bow*, Short Sword/Ninja To*); Items: None; Special Abilities: Set Alchemical Trap (3), Set Snare (2), Paralytic Toxin (2); High-Level Abilities: None; Spells: None
Adrian: LE Mage (Sorcerer)/Lvl 10 (HP 35); Armor: Bracers of Defense AC8; Weapons: None (Dagger*, Quarterstaff*); Items: None; Special Abilities: Scribe Scrolls; High-Level Abilities: None; Spells: Cloudkill (3), Greater Malison (4), Stoneskin (4), Fireball (6), Spell Thrust (6), Blur (6), Invisibility (6), Melf’s Acid Arrow (6), Mirror Image (6), Magic Missile (6), Remove Magic (6), Blindness (6), Charm Person (6), Chromatic Orb
MOD USED In order of install): Ascension v2.0.14 (G3); Oversight v14.0 (G3); Imoen Is Stone v1-0 (G3); NPC Strongholds v8 (G3); BG2 Alternate Soundtrack v1 (G3); Wheels of Prophecy v8.3 (G3); Vampire Tales v105 (TBG); Plane Touched Races; Ajantis for BG2, v20 LG Paladin-Cavalier; Amber v5 CG Tiefling Fighter/Thief ; Angelo, CN Fighter/Mage v8; Auren Asaph NG Fighter v11; Beaurin Legacy NE Elven Enchanter/Thief v4; Calin NG BladeMaster v1.6; Evandra TN Elven Illusionist v2.2; Gavin for BG2 NG Cleric Lathander v23; Haldimir TN Elven Fighter v4; Sarah CG Ranger v6; Tyris Flare, NG Fighter/Mage v9; Affaq Genie v2.8 (SHS); Ashar Half-Orc v13 (G3); Adrian LE Half-Elven Sorcerer v5 (G3); Arath Druid v5 (G3); Fade CN FTiefling (half Demon, half Elf) Thief v5.6 (G3); Isra LG Cavalier of Sune v3.4 (G3); Iylos, LG Monk v2.7 9G3); Ninde NE Necromancer v3.0 (G3); Nephele, Halfling Cleric of Yolanda v2.6 (G3); Pai-Na (G3); TN Half-Drow Hivemaster Druid (G3); Sirine, LG Paladin, Martyr of Ilmater (G3); Tashia, Elven Sorceress v1.4 (G3); Xulaye Drow v2.0 (G3); Yikari Monk v1.7 (G3); Kelsey, NG Sorcerer v6 (PPG); Keto NG Bard v6 (PPG); Tsujatha Mealeor NE Elf Mage v15 (TBG); Saerileth, LG Paladin (Tyr) v19.7 (TBG) Yasraena, CG Drow Fighter (TBG) v16;
Faren TN Fighter-Thief (last NPC because of crossmod content – SHS); Infinity Collection Portrait Pack v1 (G3); Crossmod Banter Pack v19 (G3); NPC Tweaks v7 (G3); NPC Kitpack v5 (G3); NPC Strongholds v8 (G3); Romantic Encounters BG2 v15 (G3); Yoshimo’s Remorse v2.0 (G3); D’Arnise Romance v7 (PPG); Distinguishable Clubs v1.1 (SHS) (wouldn’t install); Wizard Slayer Rebalancing v114 (SHS); Faerunian Monastic Orders (BDF); Geomantic Sorcerer v7 (G3); I hate Undead Kitpack (G3; Song and Silence v10 (G3); Sword and Fist (G3); Rogue Rebalancing (SHS); Deities of Faerun v1.9.7.7 (G3); Divine Remix (G3); BG2 Unfinished Business v27 (PPG); BG2 Fixpack v13 (G3); P&P Celestials v7 (G3); Item Randomizer v6 (G3); Sword Coast Stratagems v33 (G3); Tweaks Anthology (G3); aTweaks (SHS)
Legend: SHS = Spellhold Studios; G3 = Gibberlings 3; PPG = Pocket Plane Group; TBG = Team Baldur’s Gate; BDF = Beamdog Forums
Loury - male, human undead hunter (Gate70)
Swish - male, dwarf swashbuckler (Grond0)
Corecleric - male, halfling priest of Lathander (Corey_Russell)
57 minutes into our second session Loury finally takes a screenshot. This leads to a question of what we've been doing for the last hour. Loury thinks about making stuff up again and then remembers he can just browse through our screen capture.
It turns out we headed south from Beregost, killing the ogrillions. @Corey_Russell did his best at this point to recruit Mrs @Grond0 who proudly declared we have more chance of getting a pig to fly. With this brief attempt to recruit another victim to the party we returned to the game.
Swish wiped the hobgoblin blood off Zhurlong's boots and slipped into them. We then proceeded in a southerly direction to retrieve an amulet (for Mr Colquetle) and head into Nashkel. Loury briefly thought about letting Corecleric wear the unearthed ankheg armour but then equipped it himself.
A discussion about finding gauntlets of dexterity for Swish saw us travel southwest, returning Ruffie the dog to his owner and then relieving Caldo and Krumm of their lives. Corecleric is given the crushing girdle, then the gauntlets are picked up for Swish.
Loury tries his hand against a polar bear and is found wanting. He runs around in circles as Swish and Corecleric shoot it down. Nice job.
Then we pick off Bjornin's ogres - Corecleric thinking Loury is after a magical shield until Loury mentions they are merely collateral on the way to picking up other items (a scimitar +3 for Swish and Mithral chain +4 for Corecleric). Many rounds are spent looking in vain for Drizzt - we arrive just as he is killed by gnolls that we have been studiously avoiding.
We return to Beregost, obtaining a ring of protection +1 for delivering a letter, reputation for Mr Colquetle's amulet and some more blood on Zhurlong's boots (his own) which Swish wipes off once more.
We try to deal with Perdue only to find we did that last time and Corecleric is carrying another short sword for no reason. Corecleric fails twice to silence Silke so we slink away. After a rest Loury asks Swish to pick up a bastard sword +1 from the forge, and then we kill some spiders in a house nearby.
Corecleric suggests we can go find Landrin at the Friendly Arm Inn where she will no doubt show her appreciation for dealing with the spiders. Loury organises a brief detour to pick up Samuel the deserter, and we stop off on the way back to take a girdle of piercing from an ogre for Swish. He also gets a Ring of Protection +1, and we pick up a ring of Wizardry plus Joia's ring on the way.
Then we travel north to kill a trio of fishermen and descend into a nearby ankheg nest and our first screenshot of Loury gulping a healing potion and healing himself from our first encounter therein.
Corecleric is feeling the need for a magical warhammer. There's one here:
We rapidly disagree about what to do. Corecleric wants to try Command on it, while he is overruled and we run south.
Then we travel repeatedly between the Rock Garden and Nashkel temple until we are ambushed again. Corecleric rescues Swish and gets him back in the party while Loury kills the two worgs in this ambush.
We change our minds now and head to Nashkel Mine, change our minds again and kill Greywolf.
I love this line! What actually happened was I tried to loot a gem at the gnoll fortress, but one of you got the gem instead, so by the time my "loot" registered I got the xvart's short sword instead. I don't think I even realized that had happened till you mentioned in game I was carrying the sword.